n.
- a flat dish, typically circular, from which food is eaten or served.
▸N. Amer. a main course of a meal.
▸Austral./NZ a plate of food contributed by a guest to a social gathering.
- any shallow dish, especially one used for collecting donations in a church.
▸Biology a shallow glass dish on which a culture may be grown.
- bowls, cups, and other utensils made of gold or silver.
▸a silver or gold dish or trophy awarded as a prize.
- a thin, flat sheet or strip of metal or other material, typically one used to join or strengthen or forming part of a machine.
▸a small, flat piece of metal bearing a name or inscription, designed to be fixed to a wall or door.
▸short for number plate.
▸Baseball short for home plate.
▸a horizontal timber laid along the top of a wall to support the ends of joists or rafters.
▸a light horseshoe for a racehorse.
- Botany & Zoology a thin, flat organic structure or formation:
fused bony plates.
▸Geology each of the several rigid pieces of the earth's lithosphere which together make up the earth's surface.
- a sheet of metal or other material bearing an image of type or illustrations from which multiple copies are printed.
▸a printed photograph or illustration in a book.
▸a thin sheet of metal or glass coated with a light-sensitive film on which an image is formed, used in larger or older types of camera.
- a thin piece of metal that acts as an electrode in a capacitor, battery, or cell.
▸N. Amer. the anode of a thermionic valve.
v.
- cover (a metal object) with a thin coating of a different metal.
▸cover with plates of metal for decoration or protection.
- serve or arrange on a plate.
- Baseball score or cause to score (a run or runs).
- Biology inoculate (cells or infective material) on to a culture plate, especially with the object of isolating a particular strain of microorganisms or estimating viable cell numbers.
Phrase
- on a plate
informal indicating that something has been achieved with little or no effort. - on one's plate
chiefly Brit. occupying one's time or energy.
Derivative
- plateful n.
(pl. platefuls)
. - plater n.
- plating n.
Etymology
ME: from OFr., from med. L. plata ‘plate armour’, based on Gk platus ‘flat’; sense 1 represents OFr. plat ‘platter’.