dishes

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of dish.

   All the dinner dishes were stacked neatly in the cupboard.

   The caterers carried several large serving dishes to the buffet.

   Note

   The -es spelling follows the hushing sound at the end of dish, which adds a whole extra syllable to the plural. The plural carries every meaning of the singular: plates stacked in a cupboard, two vegetarian dishes on a menu, satellite dishes on a roof. The same spelling also serves as a verb form, so context tells you whether it means the verb "she dishes" or a set of plates.

2. 2
   nounplural

   The chore of washing plates, cups, pots, and other tableware after eating.

   Doing the dishes is the chore she dislikes most.

   After every family dinner, the dishes fall to whoever cooked the least.

   Similarwashing-up, dishwashing

   Note

   A plural that names a chore rather than a pile of crockery, and it has no singular here: nobody does the dish. It almost always takes the definite article and the verb do, as in do the dishes or I've done the dishes. It takes plural agreement (the dishes are done), and it covers pots and cutlery as well as plates.

3. 3
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of dish.

   The server dishes the stew into bowls with practiced speed.

   He dishes out criticism freely but rarely takes any himself.

   Note

   Present-tense agreement for a verb that runs from the kitchen to the gossip column. With out it often turns figurative: someone who dishes out criticism hands it around freely. On its own in slang it can mean telling tales about someone or speaking ill of them. An older slang use, now archaic, meant to defeat or outwit, so it is best left to period dialogue.

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