Library / English Dictionary

PLATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A dental appliance that artificially replaces missing teeth

Synonyms:

dental plate; denture; plate

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("plate" is a kind of...):

dental appliance (a device to repair teeth or replace missing teeth)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "plate"):

bridge; bridgework (a denture anchored to teeth on either side of missing teeth)

false teeth (a removable denture)

partial denture (a denture replacing one or more teeth in a dental arch)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(baseball) base consisting of a rubber slab where the batter stands; it must be touched by a base runner in order to score

Example:

he ruled that the runner failed to touch home

Synonyms:

home; home base; home plate; plate

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("plate" is a kind of...):

bag; base (a place that the runner must touch before scoring)

Domain category:

ball; baseball; baseball game (a ball game played with a bat and ball between two teams of nine players; teams take turns at bat trying to score runs)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Dish on which food is served or from which food is eaten

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("plate" is a kind of...):

flatware (tableware that is relatively flat and fashioned as a single piece)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "plate"):

dessert plate (a small plate on which dessert can be served)

dinner plate (a plate from which a diner eats during the main course of a meal)

paper plate (a disposable plate made of cardboard)

salad bowl; salad plate (a plate or bowl for individual servings of salad)

soup plate (a deep plate with a wide rim)

steel plate (a plate of steel)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A metal sheathing of uniform thickness (such as the shield attached to an artillery piece to protect the gunners)

Synonyms:

plate; scale; shell

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("plate" is a kind of...):

shield (a protective covering or structure)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "plate"):

shell plating (the plates covering the frame of a steel ship and corresponding to the planking of a wooden ship)

horseshoe; shoe (U-shaped plate nailed to underside of horse's hoof)

armor plate; armor plating; armour plate; plate armor; plate armour (specially hardened steel plate used to protect fortifications or vehicles from enemy fire)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A sheet of metal or wood or glass or plastic

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("plate" is a kind of...):

flat solid; sheet (a flat artifact that is thin relative to its length and width)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "plate"):

tap (a small metal plate that attaches to the toe or heel of a shoe (as in tap dancing))

plessimeter; pleximeter (a small thin metal plate held against the body and struck with a plexor in percussive examinations)

platen (the flat plate of a printing press that presses the paper against the type)

plate iron (a plate of iron)

nameplate (a plate bearing a name)

L-plate (a square plate bearing the letter L that is attached to both ends of a car to indicate that the driver is a learner)

license plate; numberplate (a plate mounted on the front and back of car and bearing the car's registration number)

lamella (thin plate)

gusset; gusset plate (a metal plate used to strengthen a joist)

grid; storage-battery grid (a perforated or corrugated metal plate used in a storage battery as a conductor and support for the active material)

fishplate (metal plate bolted along sides of two rails or beams)

fin keel (a metal plate projecting from the keel of a shallow vessel to give it greater lateral stability)

escutcheon ((nautical) a plate on a ship's stern on which the name is inscribed)

engraving (a block or plate or other hard surface that has been engraved)

disc; disk (a flat circular plate)

damper (a movable iron plate that regulates the draft in a stove or chimney or furnace)

cylinder head (a detachable plate that covers the closed end of a cylinder chamber in a reciprocating engine or pump)

baffle; baffle board (a flat plate that controls or directs the flow of fluid or energy)

Derivation:

plate (coat with a layer of metal)

Sense 6

Meaning:

A shallow receptacle for collection in church

Synonyms:

collection plate; plate

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("plate" is a kind of...):

receptacle (a container that is used to put or keep things in)

Sense 7

Meaning:

Structural member consisting of a horizontal beam that provides bearing and anchorage

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("plate" is a kind of...):

structural member (support that is a constituent part of any structure or building)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "plate"):

wall plate (plate (a timber along the top of a wall) to support the ends of joists, etc., and distribute the load)

Holonyms ("plate" is a part of...):

construction; structure (a thing constructed; a complex entity constructed of many parts)

Sense 8

Meaning:

A full-page illustration (usually on slick paper)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("plate" is a kind of...):

illustration (a visual representation (a picture or diagram) that is used make some subject more pleasing or easier to understand)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "plate"):

fashion plate (a plate illustrating the latest fashion in dress)

Sense 9

Meaning:

A flat sheet of metal or glass on which a photographic image can be recorded

Synonyms:

photographic plate; plate

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("plate" is a kind of...):

flat solid; sheet (a flat artifact that is thin relative to its length and width)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "plate"):

quarter plate (a photographic plate measuring 3.25 inches by 4.25 inches)

Sense 10

Meaning:

The positively charged electrode in a vacuum tube

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("plate" is a kind of...):

anode (a positively charged electrode by which electrons leave an electrical device)

Holonyms ("plate" is a part of...):

electron tube; thermionic tube; thermionic vacuum tube; thermionic valve; tube; vacuum tube (electronic device consisting of a system of electrodes arranged in an evacuated glass or metal envelope)

Sense 11

Meaning:

Any flat platelike body structure or part

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Hypernyms ("plate" is a kind of...):

anatomical structure; bodily structure; body structure; complex body part; structure (a particular complex anatomical part of a living thing and its construction and arrangement)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "plate"):

operculum (a hard flap serving as a cover for (a) the gill slits in fishes or (b) the opening of the shell in certain gastropods when the body is retracted)

comb (ciliated comb-like swimming plate of a ctenophore)

frill ((paleontology) a bony plate that curves upward behind the skull of many ceratopsian dinosaurs)

lamina (a thin plate or layer (especially of bone or mineral))

Sense 12

Meaning:

A main course served on a plate

Example:

the blue plate special

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Hypernyms ("plate" is a kind of...):

entree; main course (the principal dish of a meal)

Sense 13

Meaning:

The thin under portion of the forequarter

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Hypernyms ("plate" is a kind of...):

cut of beef (cut of meat from beef cattle)

Sense 14

Meaning:

A rigid layer of the Earth's crust that is believed to drift slowly

Synonyms:

crustal plate; plate

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Hypernyms ("plate" is a kind of...):

crust; Earth's crust (the outer layer of the Earth)

Sense 15

Meaning:

The quantity contained in a plate

Synonyms:

plate; plateful

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Hypernyms ("plate" is a kind of...):

containerful (the quantity that a container will hold)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Coat with a layer of metal

Example:

plate spoons with silver

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "plate" is one way to...):

coat; surface (put a coat on; cover the surface of; furnish with a surface)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "plate"):

tin (prepare (a metal) for soldering or brazing by applying a thin layer of solder to the surface)

tin (plate with tin)

silver (coat with a layer of silver or a silver amalgam)

nickel (plate with nickel)

electroplate (coat with metal by electrolysis)

chrome; chromium-plate (plate with chromium)

gold-plate; gold plate; goldplate (plate with gold)

silver-plate; silverplate (plate with silver)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

plate (a sheet of metal or wood or glass or plastic)

plater (a skilled worker who coats articles with a film of metal (usually silver or gold))

plating (the application of a thin coat of metal (as by electrolysis))

plating (a thin coating of metal deposited on a surface)

Credits

 Context examples: 

When they came in, they wanted to eat and drink, and looked for their little plates and glasses.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

They are a resource for research materials, including Web-accessible data and tools, vialed and plated compounds, tumor cells, animals, and Investigational New Drug (IND)-directed studies.

(Developmental Therapeutics Program, NCI Thesaurus)

A plate or similar structure designed to direct the flow of a fluid or dissipate its energy.

(Baffle Device Component, NCI Thesaurus)

Most seamounts were once active volcanoes, and so are usually found near tectonically active plate boundaries, mid-ocean ridges and subducting zones.

(New map uncovers thousands of unseen seamounts on ocean floor, NSF)

Artifacts resulting from the electronics of the plate reader or from issues associated with the image plate.

(Plate-reader Artifact, NCI Thesaurus)

Martin shoved his plate away and got up.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The Moon doesn't have tectonic plates; instead, its tectonic action occurs as the Moon slowly loses heat from when it was formed nearly 4.5 billion years ago.

(Study Finds New Wrinkles on Earth's Moon, NASA)

And he withdrew the cup of milk and the plate of bread.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

You can think that we did justice to all the good things, and Miss Hinton would ever keep pressing us to pass our cup and to fill our plate.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I have seen old John Hawkwood, the same who has led half the Company into Italy, stand laughing in his beard as he heard it, until his plates rattled again.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)