planes

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of plane.

   Three planes circled the airport waiting for clearance to land.

   The two cutting planes intersect along a single straight line.

   Note

   One plural serves a whole family of flat things: level surfaces, the infinite planes of geometry, the imaginary planes that divide the body, the lifting surfaces on aircraft and submarines, and even the 17 ranges of code points. Figurative levels pluralize the same way, as in planes of existence. The identical spelling is also the present-tense verb form, so only the sentence tells you whether planes are things or something planes.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of plane.

   He carefully planes each edge before fitting the panels together.

   Once the hull planes over the surface, fuel consumption drops sharply.

   Note

   Unrelated actions share one present-tense form here, and grammar helps tell them apart. A carpenter planes a board: that use is transitive and needs an object. A hull planes when its bow lifts out of the water, and a bird planes when it glides; these normally stand without one. If something follows as the thing being smoothed, the meaning is woodwork.

Showing meanings only. Show all 2