boilerplaten.
/ˈbɔɪləpleɪt/, U.S. /ˈbɔɪlərˌpleɪt/ 1. Usually as two words. A plate or sheet of metal of suitable thickness and strength to be used in constructing the shell of a boiler. Also as mass noun: metal in the form of such plates. Cf. boiler-iron n. at boiler n. Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > metal > iron > [noun] > type of iron > iron for making boilers
boilerplate1793
boiler-iron1851
1793 Star 13 Nov. (advt.) Table of the number and dimensions of Boiler Plates and weights thereof, suitable for Boilers, from eight to sixteen feet and a half diameter.
1860 D. K. Clark & Z. Colburn Recent Pract. Locomotive Engine i. i. 1/1 The earliest recorded trials of the strength of boiler-plate, are those of Mr. Fairbairn, made in 1838.
1874 J. H. Collins Princ. Metal Mining (1875) xiii. 74 The kibble is simply an iron bucket made of boiler plates, riveted together.
1915 J. Wedgwood With Machine-guns in Gallipoli i. 4 Our mechanics..lined her bridges with boiler plate and leaky sand-bags.
1961 Sunday Tel. 19 Nov. 3/6 The company's products are mostly of the ‘heavy’ type such as rails, ships and boiler plates and large diameter piping.
2004 Philadelphia Inquirer (Nexis) 28 Mar. l6 It was Charles Lukens' idea to concentrate on manufacturing high-quality boiler plates.
2. Originally U.S.
a. In the slang of newspaper printing: matter which has been supplied to a newspaper as a block ready for use (originally in the form of stereotype printing plates), typically by a news agency; = plate matter n. at plate n. Compounds 2. In early use also as count noun: a block or plate of such matter. Now historical.Recorded earliest in compounds.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > journalism > journal > matter of or for journals > [noun] > stereotype or syndicated matter
patent outsides1871
patent insides1879
plate matter1881
boilerplate1884
1884 Lima (Ohio) Daily Republican 21 Feb. When they [sc. the great metropolitan dailies] find that a ‘boiler plate’ news agency have [sic] sprung up in all parts of the land..they straightway squealed and appealed to Congress for protection.
1886 Daily Tombstone (Arizona) 12 May The Nogales News now appears as a six column paper, and its inside is well filled with news and advertisements, but its outside with the old stale boiler plates of the Epitaph spoils it.
1887 Superior Printer July 39/2 Very little ‘boiler plate’ is used, even in the country dailies.
1901 Quincy (Illinois) Daily Herald 4 Dec. The Journal had a weak condensation into six columns of boiler plate shipped in at a cost of $1.50 a page.
1995 G. S. Kealey Workers & Canad. Hist. vii. 220 In the 1880s, numerous agencies sprang up to provide precisely these services to newspapers in the form of so-called boilerplate.
b. Standardized or formulaic text (used esp. with reference to pieces of text for use as standard clauses in legal contracts or to perform certain standard functions as part of a computer program). More generally: clichéd or hackneyed writing or ideas.Recorded earliest in compounds.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > weakness or feebleness > [noun] > mechanical quality > writing or expression
nominy?1746
stereotype1850
cliché1881
boilerplate1891
1891 Amer. Homœopathist 17 432 Don't be unduly startled at the ‘boiler-plate’ paragraph in the average college announcement that all applicants must present a degree in letters or science, etc., etc., a month or more after matriculation.
1906 Morning Oregonian (Portland, Oregon) 19 May 6/3 Notice the way these wise ones prognosticate and prevaricate... Boiler plate, all of it.
1949 Navy Contract Law (U.S. Bureau Naval Personnel) ix. 212/2 This type of clause has proved so valuable that it is presently standard ‘boilerplate’ not only in shipbuilding contracts but also in almost every kind of contract.
1990 L. Wall & R. L. Schwartz Programming Perl vii. 379 Like mus itself, man2mus is not 100% effective, but can save you a lot of time producing the initial boilerplate.
1991 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 22 Apr. c13/1 Mr. Lee's script is full of boilerplate in which the characters talk about ‘changing things for the better back home’ and ‘helping to pave the way’ in the battle against racism.
2004 M. Crichton State of Fear 558 A routine notification..finished with the usual boilerplate about the alert being based on preliminary information.
2014 Church Times 20 June 27/1 The claim that division is a ‘scandal’, on the other hand, is purest boilerplate, even if it looks much stronger.
3.
a. Mountaineering. In plural. Smooth, overlapping, and undercut slabs of rock.
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the world > the earth > structure of the earth > structural features > rock formations > [noun] > overlapping slabs
boilerplate1907
1907 Sc. Mountaineering Club Jrnl. Sept. 356 This face was climbed by Messrs Naismith and J. A. Parker in 1896... They found slabs (boiler plates) to start with.
1924 J. Buchan Three Hostages xi. 165 Left me to finish my ascent by way of some very loose screes and unpleasant boiler-plates.
2021 J. Long & B. Gaines Rock Climbing xiv. 270/2 We double-checked the topo, but the way was obvious: 5.8 face climbing up and right across big loose boilerplates to a hand crack maybe 20 feet away.
b. Skiing (originally U.S.). Hard, icy snow which may be dangerous to ski on.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > precipitation or atmospheric moisture > snow > [noun] > a fall of snow > types of fallen snow
mountain snow1567
red snow1678
poudre1846
firn1853
powder snow1914
powder1931
boilerplate1937
snowpack1952
crud1961
tracking snow1971
1937 Appalachia (Appalachian Mountain Club) June 428 Throughout the day a rather stiff breeze was blowing, and on the open slopes the snow was of the boiler-plate variety.
1967 Skiing Oct. 96/1 Salt was sprinkled over a vast patch which instantly turned the mush to conditions not too far removed from what Easterners call ‘boilerplate’.
2003 Ski Sept. 42/2 There are skis for casual cruising,..skis for carving laser-precise arcs on boilerplate, skis bent on racing gravity itself to the bottom of the hill.
Compounds
C1. Originally U.S. As a modifier, designating matter which has been supplied to a newspaper as a block ready for use (see sense 2a); of or relating to such matter.
ΚΠ
1884 Lima (Ohio) Daily Republican 21 Feb. When they [sc. the great metropolitan dailies] find that a ‘boiler plate’ news agency have [sic] sprung up in all parts of the land..they straightway squealed and appealed to Congress for protection.
1886 Sandusky (Ohio) Daily Reg. 11 Mar. The Sewer does not print a line of telegraphic news save the boiler plate matter copied from papers printed twelve and twenty-four hours before the Sewer goes to press.
1926 Bradford (Pa.) Era 2 Mar. 2/1 With the change in size, has come the dropping of the boiler plate matter, so familiar to readers of weekly papers.
2017 A. Kaler Baby Trouble in Last Best West vi. 142 ‘Boilerplate’ news, obtained from wire services and printed verbatim, occupied a smaller and smaller proportion of news sections until by the 1920s, the use of ‘boilerplate’ had completely ended.
C2. Originally U.S. As a modifier, designating text which is standardized or formulaic, or writing or thought which is clichéd or hackneyed.
ΚΠ
1891 Amer. Homœopathist 17 432 Don't be unduly startled at the ‘boiler-plate’ paragraph in the average college announcement that all applicants must present a degree in letters or science, etc., etc., a month or more after matriculation.
1901 Iowa State Press 13 Aug. The platform presented to the republican convention by director of the mint Roberts, is one of those eastern trust-made ‘boiler plate’ affairs.
1957 Yale Law Jrnl. 66 760 Negative covenants are among the ‘boilerplate’ clauses in term loans.
1990 Boston Phoenix 27 Apr. pls6/2 Many [books] bear telltale signs of having been dashed together for the anniversary: lengthy quotations from the free publications..and ubiquitous boilerplate ‘fun facts’.
2015 N. Carr Glass Cage (2016) v. 100 The physicians using computers told Hoff that they would regularly ‘cut-and-paste’ boilerplate text into their reports on patient visits.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2021).
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n.1793