a shallow, usually circular dish, often of earthenware or porcelain, from which food is eaten.
the contents of such a dish.
an entire course of a meal served on such a dish: I had the vegetable plate for lunch.
the food and service for one person, as at a banquet, fund-raising dinner, or the like: The wedding breakfast cost $20 a plate.
household dishes, utensils, etc., of metal plated with gold or silver.
household dishes, utensils, etc., made of gold or silver.
Also called col·lec·tion plate[kuh-lek-shuhn pleyt], /kəˈlɛk ʃən ˌpleɪt/, of·fer·ing plate[aw-fer-ing pleyt, of-er‐] /ˈɔ fər ɪŋ ˌpleɪt, ˈɒf ər‐/ . a dish, as of metal or wood, used for collecting offerings, as in a church: I don't make enough money to tithe, but I always bring a few dollars for when they pass the plate during service.
a thin, flat sheet or piece of metal or other material, especially of uniform thickness.
metal in such sheets.
a flat, polished piece of metal on which something may be or is engraved.
Usually plates . license plate: a car with New Jersey plates.
a flat or curved sheet of metal, plastic, glass, or similar hard material, on which a picture or text has been engraved, etched, molded, photographically developed, or drawn, that is inked, as in a press, for printing impressions on other surfaces.
a printed impression from such a piece or from some similar piece, as a woodcut.
a full-page illustration in a book, especially an insert on paper different from the text pages.
a piece of armor made from a thin, flat piece or several such pieces of tough material, especially wrought iron or steel.
armor composed of thin, flat pieces; plate armor.
Dentistry.
the part of a denture that conforms to the mouth and contains the teeth.
the entire denture.
Baseball.
the plate.home plate.
rubber1 (def. 14).
plate glass.
Photography. a sheet of glass, metal, etc., coated with a sensitized emulsion, used for taking a photograph.
Anatomy, Zoology. a platelike part, structure, or organ.
a thin piece or cut of beef from the lower end of the ribs.
Geology. crustal plate.
Electronics. one of the interior elements of a vacuum tube, toward which electrons are attracted by virtue of its positive charge; anode. Abbreviation: P
Carpentry. any of various horizontal timbers or boards laid flat across the heads of studding, upon floors, etc., to support joists, rafters, or studs at or near their ends.
a gold or silver cup or the like awarded as the prize in a horse race or some other contest.
a horse race or some other contest for such a prize.
Heraldry. a rounded argent.
verb (used with object),plat·ed,plat·ing.
to coat (metal) with a thin film of gold, silver, nickel, etc., by mechanical or chemical means.
to cover or overlay with metal plates for protection.
to place (food) on or in a dish before serving (often followed by up): Plate the scallops, then deglaze the pan to make your sauce.
Metalworking.
to forge (a bloom or the like) into a broad piece.
to hammer (cutlery) gently to produce an even surface.
Printing. to make a stereotype or electrotype plate from (type).
Papermaking. to give a high gloss to (paper), as on supercalendered paper.
Idioms for plate
have on one's plate, Informal. to have as an immediate task, obligation, or prospect: I had too much on my plate already to take on another task.
Origin of plate
1
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English, from Old French: literally, “something flat,” noun use of feminine of plat (see flat1), from unattested Vulgar Latin plattus, akin to Greek platýs “broad, flat”
OTHER WORDS FROM plate
plate·less,adjectiveplate·like,adjective
Words nearby plate
Plata, Plataea, platan, platband, plat du jour, plate, plate armor, plate armour, plateau, plateau pulse, Plateau's problem
Definition for plate (2 of 2)
plate2
[ pleyt ]
/ pleɪt /
nounObsolete.
a coin, especially of silver.
Origin of plate
2
1200–50; Middle English <Old French; special use of plateplate1
While it doesn’t have a dry cycle, it’s still very efficient at getting those leftovers off the plate so all you have to do is dry them as you put them up.
Small dishwashers that fit in almost any kitchen|PopSci Commerce Team|August 25, 2020|Popular Science
This was a huge shift going from not knowing whether her technical SEO tickets were prioritized above a mystery plate of work tasks to developers caring about SEO every bit as much as they might frontend design details.
Power SEO Friendly Markup With HTML5, CSS3, And Javascript|Detlef Johnson|August 20, 2020|Search Engine Land
The home plate umpire then hears a voice through an earpiece.
A robot referee can really keep its ‘eye’ on the ball|Kathryn Hulick|August 20, 2020|Science News For Students
So they’re letting streaming services take some off their plates.
Netflix is happy to buy up the movies Hollywood studios can’t release|Adam Epstein|August 4, 2020|Quartz
Known as Borealopelta markmitchelli, this plant-muncher had been covered in plates of armor.
Fossil stomach reveals a dinosaur’s last meal|Carolyn Wilke|July 7, 2020|Science News For Students
Chris Stein of Blondie catches Ramone with an “aw, shucks” expression just after he drops a plate of food.
‘All Good Cretins Go to Heaven’: Dee Dee Ramone’s Twisted Punk Paintings|Melissa Leon|December 15, 2014|DAILY BEAST
To unwind, Sharp takes long showers, and stops himself from separating his food on his plate as Christopher would.
The Brit Who Stormed Broadway|Tim Teeman|December 7, 2014|DAILY BEAST
So in the cutting room, we got a plate of a horse and put a CGI guy getting on him.
‘No Regrets’: Peter Jackson Says Goodbye to Middle-Earth|Alex Suskind|December 4, 2014|DAILY BEAST
But when the time came you stepped up to the plate just like George W. Bush did.
Up to a Point: Thanks to the Biggest Turkey, Uncle Sam|P. J. O’Rourke|November 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
South of Silicon Valley, an entire town is being deformed, slowly, by plate tectonics.
Silicon Valley Mansions, Swallowed Alive|Geoff Manaugh|November 8, 2014|DAILY BEAST
He ate because his mother filled his plate; but if he had been questioned, he could scarcely have told what he was eating.
Baron Trigault's Vengeance|Emile Gaboriau
The tympana of the choir triforium arches are filled with plate tracery, quatrefoil and cusped.
Cathedral Cities of France|Herbert Marshall
Whether de Blainville's or Sowerby's plate appeared first I cannot ascertain.
A Monograph on the Sub-class Cirripedia (Volume 2 of 2)|Charles Darwin
I put them in the cupboard in a brown bowl with a plate over it.
Light O' The Morning|L. T. Meade
He snapped the ball, however, to Mylert, nipping Berry at the plate.
Baseball Joe in the World Series|Lester Chadwick
British Dictionary definitions for plate (1 of 2)
plate
/ (pleɪt) /
noun
a shallow usually circular dish made of porcelain, earthenware, glass, etc, on which food is served or from which food is eaten
(as modifier)a plate rack
Also called: platefulthe contents of a plate or the amount a plate will hold
Australian and NZa plate of cakes, sandwiches, etc, brought by a guest to a partyeveryone was asked to bring a plate
an entire course of a meala cold plate
any shallow or flat receptacle, esp for receiving a collection in church
flat metal of uniform thickness obtained by rolling, usually having a thickness greater than about three millimetres
a thin coating of metal usually on another metal, as produced by electrodeposition, chemical action, etc
metal or metalware that has been coated in this way, esp with gold or silverSheffield plate
dishes, cutlery, etc, made of gold or silver
a sheet of metal, plastic, rubber, etc, having a printing surface produced by a process such as stereotyping, moulding, or photographic deposition
a print taken from such a sheet or from a woodcut, esp when appearing in a book
a thin flat sheet of a substance, such as metal or glass
armour made of overlapping or articulated pieces of thin metal
photog
a sheet of glass, or sometimes metal, coated with photographic emulsion on which an image can be formed by exposure to light
(as modifier)a plate camera
an orthodontic device, esp one used for straightening children's teeth
an informal word for denture (def. 1)
anatomyany flat platelike structure or part
a cup or trophy awarded to the winner of a sporting contest, esp a horse race
a race or contest for such a prize
any of the rigid layers of the earth's lithosphere of which there are believed to be at least 15See also plate tectonics
electronics
mainlyUSthe anode in an electronic valve
an electrode in an accumulator or capacitor
a horizontal timber joist that supports rafters or studs
a light horseshoe for flat racing
a thin cut of beef from the brisket
See plate rail
Also called: Communion plateRC Churcha flat plate held under the chin of a communicant in order to catch any fragments of the consecrated Host
archaica coin, esp one made of silver
on a platein such a way as to be acquired without further troublehe was handed the job on a plate
on one's platewaiting to be done or dealt withhe has a lot on his plate at the moment
verb(tr)
to coat (a surface, usually metal) with a thin layer of other metal by electrolysis, chemical reaction, etc
to cover with metal plates, as for protection
printingto make a stereotype or electrotype from (type or another plate)
to form (metal) into plate, esp by rolling
to give a glossy finish to (paper) by calendering
to grow (microorganisms) in a culture medium
See also plate up
Word Origin for plate
C13: from Old French: thin metal sheet, something flat, from Vulgar Latin plattus (unattested); related to Greek platus flat
British Dictionary definitions for plate (2 of 2)
Plate
/ (pleɪt) /
noun
River Plate the English name for the (Río de la) Plata
A smooth, flat, relatively thin, rigid body of uniform thickness.
A thin flat layer, part, or structure.
A thin metallic or plastic support fitted to the gums to anchor artificial teeth.
A metal bar applied to a fractured bone in order to maintain the ends in apposition.
The agar layer within a Petri dish or similar vessel.
A sheet of glass or metal that is light-sensitive and on which a photographic image can be recorded.
v.
To form a very thin layer of a bacterial culture by streaking it on the surface of agar to isolate individual organisms from which a colonial clone will develop.
A thin, flat sheet of metal or other material, especially one used as an electrode in a storage battery or capacitor, or as the anode of an electron tube.
In plate tectonics, one of the sections of the Earth's lithosphere (crust and upper mantle) that is in constant motion along with other sections. It is the interaction of the plates that causes mountains, volcanos, and other land features to form and that causes earthquakes to occur. Six major plates and numerous smaller ones are recognized. See more at tectonic boundary.