plate /plāt/ noun- A shallow dish of any of various sizes according to purpose, eg dessert plate, dinner plate, side plate
- A plateful
- A portion served on a plate
- A sheet, slab, or lamina of metal or other hard material, usu flat or flattish
- Metal in the form of sheets
- A broad piece of armour
- A scute or separate portion of an animal's shell
- A broad thin piece of a structure or mechanism
- A plate-like section of the earth's crust, involved in plate tectonics (see below)
- A piece of metal, wood, etc, bearing or to bear an inscription to be affixed to anything
- An engraved piece of metal for printing from
- An impression printed from it, an engraving
- An illustration in a book, esp a whole-page one separately printed and inserted
- A mould from type, etc, for printing from, as an electrotype or stereotype
- Part of a denture fitting the mouth and carrying the teeth
- The whole denture
- A device worn in the mouth by some children in order to straighten the teeth
- A film-coated sheet of glass or other material to photograph on
- A plate rail (see below)
- A horizontal supporting timber in building
- A five-sided white slab at the home base (baseball)
- A light racing horseshoe
- A thermionic valve anode (orig flat)
- Precious metal, esp silver (historical; Sp plata silver)
- A silver coin (Shakespeare)
- Wrought gold or silver
- Household utensils in gold or silver
- Table utensils generally
- Plated ware such as Sheffield plate, a silver-plated copper ware
- A cup or other prize for a race or other contest
- A race or contest for such a prize
- A church collection
- (in pl) the feet (slang; orig rhyming slang for plates of meat)
transitive verb- To overlay with metal
- To armour with metal
- To cover with a thin film of another metal
- To put (food) onto a plate in preparation for eating
- To make a printing plate of
ORIGIN: OFr plate, fem (and for the dish plat, masc), flat, from Gr platys broad plaˈted adjective - Covered with plates of metal
- Covered with a coating of another metal, esp gold or silver
- Armoured with hard scales or bone (zoology)
plateˈful noun As much as a plate will hold plateˈlet noun A minute particle in blood, concerned in clotting plateˈ-like adjective plāˈter noun - A person who or something which plates
- A moderate horse entered for a minor, esp a selling, race
plāˈting noun plāˈty adjective - Plate-like
- Separating into plates
plate armour noun Protective armour of metal plates plateˈ-basket noun A basket for forks, spoons, etc plateˈ-fleet noun (historical) Ships that carried American silver to Spain plate glass noun A fine kind of glass used for mirrors and shop-windows, orig poured in a molten state on an iron plate plateˈ-glass adjective - Made with or consisting of plate glass
- (of a building) having large plate-glass windows, appearing to be built entirely of plate glass
- (hence) used of any very modern building or institution, esp British universities founded in the mid-20c
plateˈlayer noun A person who lays, fixes, and attends to the rails of a railway plateˈ-leather noun A chamois leather for rubbing gold and silver plateˈmaker noun A person or machine that makes printing plates plateˈman noun A man who has the care of silver plate in a hotel, club, etc plateˈmark noun A hallmark plateˈ-powder noun A polishing powder for silver plateˈ-printˈing noun The process of printing from engraved plates plateˈ-proof noun A proof taken from a plate plate rack noun A frame for holding plates, etc, when not in use or when draining after washing plate rail noun On early railways, a flat rail with an outer flange plateˈ-room noun A room where silver-plated goods or printing plates are kept plateˈ-ship noun (historical) A ship bringing silver to Spain from the Americas plate tectonics singular noun (geology) - The interacting movements of the rigid plates or sections that make up the earth's crust, floating on the semi-molten rock of the interior
- The science or study of these movements
- The study of the crust in terms of this theory
plateˈ-warmer noun An apparatus for warming dinner plates or keeping them warm halfˈ-plate (in photography) a size of plate measuring 43/4 by 61/2 inches (41/4 by 51/2 in the USA) hand or give (someone something) on a plate (figurative) To cause or allow (someone) to achieve or obtain (something) without the least effort on one's plate (figurative) In front of one, waiting to be dealt with quarˈter-plate (in photography) a plate size 31/4 by 41/4 inches step up to the plate To accept a burden or responsibility wholeˈ-plate (in photography) a plate size 61/2 by 81/2 inches quarter /kwörˈtər/ noun- A fourth part
- A 25-cent piece, 25 cents, quarter of a dollar (N American)
- The fourth part of an hour, of the year, of the moon's period (or the moon's position at the end of it), of the world, etc
- One of the four periods of play into which certain games are divided
- The fourth part of a cwt = 28 (or in US 25) lb avoirdupois
- 8 bushels (perh orig a fourth of a ton of corn)
- (also quarter-pound) a quarter of a pound, 4oz (informal)
- A cardinal point, or any point, of the compass
- The region about any point of the compass
- A region generally
- A town district inhabited by a particular class
- An unspecified person or group regarded as a source of information, support, etc
- A part of an army, camp, etc (Shakespeare)
- (usu in pl) lodging, esp for soldiers
- An assigned station or position
- Terms, relations, treatment, esp favourable (Shakespeare)
- Mercy granted to an antagonist (perh from sending to quarters)
- The part of a ship's side to the rear of its widest point
- A limb with adjacent parts of the trunk, esp (historical) of the dismembered body of an executed person, or of an animal carcass
- A haunch of a live animal
- Each of the two pieces on a boot or shoe from the centre of the heel to the vamp
- Each side of a horse's hoof
- One of the four parts of a quartered shield (heraldry)
- An ordinary occupying one-fourth of the field (heraldry)
- A quartering (heraldry)
transitive verb- To divide into four equal or nearly equal parts
- To dismember (the body of a traitor, etc) (historical)
- To divide into parts or compartments
- To station, lodge or put in quarters
- To bear, place or divide quarterly (heraldry)
- (esp of dogs) to range for game, to search thoroughly
intransitive verb- To be stationed
- To lodge
- (of a dog) to range for game
- To drive a carriage or cart with the wheels between the ruts, or the horse(s) astride a rut
- To drive to the side of the road, or from side to side
- (of the wind) to blow onto a ship's quarter
combining form- (denoting adjectivally) one-fourth part (of)
- (denoting adverbially) to the extent of one-fourth
ORIGIN: OFr quarter, from L quārtārius a fourth part, from quārtus fourth quarˈterage noun - A quarterly payment
- Quarters, lodging
quarˈtered adjective quarˈtering adjective - (of a ship) sailing nearly before the wind
- (of a wind) striking on the quarter of a ship
noun- Assignment of quarters
- A series of small upright posts for forming partitions, lathed and plastered only, or boarded also (architecture)
- The division of a coat by horizontal and vertical lines (heraldry)
- One of the divisions so formed
- The marshalling of coats in these divisions, indicating family alliances
- Any one of the coats so marshalled
quarˈterly adjective - Relating to a quarter, esp of a year
- Recurring, or published, once a quarter
- Divided into or marshalled in quarters (heraldry)
adverb- Once a quarter
- In quarters or quarterings (heraldry)
noun A quarterly periodical quartˈerback noun (American football) The player between the linemen and the halfbacks, who directs the attacking play of the team quarˈter-binding noun A type of bookbinding in which the spine and a small part of the sides are covered with a different material than the rest of the book quarˈter-blood noun A person of one-quarter Native American descent quarˈter-bound adjective Bound using quarter-binding quarˈter-boy or quarˈter-jack noun An automaton that strikes the quarter-hours quarˈter-bred adjective (of horses, cattle, etc) having only one-fourth pure blood quarter day noun The day on each of the year's quarters on which rent or interest is due to be paid quarˈterdeck noun The part of the deck of a ship abaft the mainmast, used by cabin passengers and by superior officers (and saluted on warships) quarˈterdecker noun (naval sl) A stickler for naval etiquette quarˈter-evil or quarter-ill noun Black-quarter (qv) quarˈter-fiˈnal noun The round before the semi-final in a knockout competition quarˈter-gallery noun A projecting balcony on a ship's quarter quarˈter-guard noun A guard of a battalion in camp quarˈter-gunner noun (US; historical) A naval petty-officer, under the gunner, a gunner's mate quarˈter-horse noun (US) A horse that can run a quarter of a mile or so at great speed quarter hour noun - A period of fifteen minutes
- A point marking such a period on a clock, etc
quarter-hourˈly adverb quarˈter-jack noun - See quarter-boy above
- A quartermaster (slang)
quarˈterlight noun A small triangular window in a car for ventilation quarˈtermaster noun - (also fem quarˈtermistress) an officer who is responsible for the accommodation, weapons and supplies of a group of soldiers
- A petty officer who attends to the helm, signals, etc (nautical)
quartermaster-genˈeral noun A staff-officer who deals with transport, marches, quarters, fuel, clothing, etc quartermaster-serˈgeant noun A senior non-commissioned officer with administrative duties quarter-milˈer noun An athlete whose speciality is the 400 metres or quarter-mile race quarter note noun - A crotchet (N American)
- A quarter-tone
quarˈter-plate see under plate quarter-poundˈer noun A burger weighing a quarter of a pound quarˈter-rail noun A rail stretching from a ship's gangway to its stern quarˈter-repeating adjective (of a repeating watch or clock) that strikes the quarter hours quarˈter-road noun A road divided into four strips by ruts and horse-track quarˈter-round noun A moulding whose section is about a quadrant, an ovolo quarˈter-saw transitive verb (pat and pap quarˈter-sawed or quarˈter-sawn) To saw (timber) from quartered logs, so that the face of the planks is at an angle of at least 45º to the growth rings quarˈter-seal noun The seal kept by the director of the Chancery of Scotland, known also as ‘the testimonial of the Great Seal’ quarter section noun (N American) An area of land half a mile square, 160 acres quarˈter-sessions plural noun A court formerly held quarterly by justices of the peace (superseded in England and Wales in 1972 by crown courts) quarˈterstaff noun - A long wooden pole with an iron tip, an old weapon of defence
- The use of this weapon
quarˈter-tone noun Half a semitone quarˈter-wind noun A wind blowing on a ship's quarter (a) quarter after or past Fifteen minutes after (a specified hour) (a) quarter to Fifteen minutes before the hour at close quarters - In very near proximity
- Hand-to-hand
keep a quarter or a bad quarter (obsolete) To make a disturbance keep good quarter (Shakespeare) To keep good watch or good order |