# plate

Pronunciation: say "PLAYT" /pleɪt/

## Noun

1. A shallow, slightly curved dish from which food is served or eaten.
   - Simple: A round, flat dish that you eat food from or serve food on.
   - _The waiter set a steaming plate in front of each guest._
   - _Stack the clean plates in the cupboard once they dry._
2. A serving of food on a plate, eaten as a meal or as part of one.
   - Simple: A serving of food on a plate, forming a whole meal or part of one.
   - _After the long hike, he cleared his entire plate without pausing._
   - _The toddler ate about half his plate and slipped the rest to the dog._
3. The identifying sign fixed to a vehicle, stamped with the registration number assigned by the authorities.
   - Simple: The metal sign with numbers and letters on a car that shows it is registered.
   - _A witness memorized the plate as the car sped away._
   - _Several cars had muddy plates that were impossible to read._
4. In baseball, the five-sided slab marking where the batter stands and which a runner must touch to score a run.
   - Simple: In baseball, the flat marker where the batter stands and a runner touches to score.
   - _The catcher blocked the plate as the runner barreled in from third._
   - _With two outs, the cleanup hitter approached the plate._
5. A flat, thin piece of hard material of even thickness, such as metal, glass, or plastic, especially a coated sheet used in laboratory work.
   - Simple: A flat sheet of material, such as glass or plastic with a coating.
   - _In thin-layer chromatography, samples migrate up a coated plate._
   - _The workshop cut a plate of clear plastic to protect the old map._
7. One of the large, rigid sections of the Earth's outer shell that move slowly over the mantle.
   - Simple: One of the huge slabs of rock that make up the Earth's surface and slowly move.
   - _The Pacific plate grinds northwest against its neighbors along the fault._
   - _Where one plate dives beneath another, deep ocean trenches form._
8. The full set of tasks, problems, or responsibilities a person has to handle.
   - Simple: All the jobs and problems someone has to deal with right now.
   - _He turned down the project because his plate was overflowing already._
   - _Between exams and her part-time job, there's plenty on her plate this month._
14. A weighted metal disk with a central hole, loaded onto a barbell, dumbbell, or machine to add resistance.
   - Simple: A heavy metal disk with a hole in the middle that you add to a barbell.
   - _He slid a forty-five-pound plate onto the barbell and locked the collar._
   - _Beginners should start with the smallest plates before adding weight._
10. A surface layer of one material covering another, usually named by the material used, as in gold plate.
   - Simple: A thin coat of one material laid over the surface of something else.
   - _The trophy's gold plate began to flake after a few years._
   - _Over the years, the chrome plate on the old bumper began to flake and rust._
11. A sheet of metal, plastic, or other material with a prepared surface from which text or images are printed.
   - Simple: A flat sheet with a prepared surface used to print words or pictures.
   - _The engraver cut fine lines into the copper plate for the illustration._
   - _Printers wiped excess ink from the plate before each impression._
12. A picture printed from an engraved or photographic plate, especially a full-page illustration in a book, often on different paper from the text.
   - Simple: A picture printed in a book, usually filling a whole page and often on different paper from the text.
   - _The art monograph reproduces each painting as a full-page plate._
   - _Early editions included steel-engraved plates protected by tissue guards._
13. A flat electrode, such as those found in a storage battery or an electrolysis tank.
   - Simple: A flat metal part inside a battery that carries electricity.
   - _Sulfation builds up on the plate when a lead-acid battery sits discharged._
   - _Technicians replaced the corroded plates in the electrolysis cell._
16. A shaped base of metal, plastic, or other material fitted to the mouth to hold one or more artificial teeth.
   - Simple: A fitted piece that holds false teeth and sits inside the mouth.
   - _The dentist adjusted the plate until it sat comfortably along her gums._
   - _His upper plate slipped whenever he laughed too hard._
17. Body armor made of rigid sheets of metal or other hard material, from a knight's fitted suit to a bulletproof insert worn in a vest.
   - Simple: Hard sheets of metal or other strong material worn to protect the body, like knights' armor or bulletproof vests.
   - _The knight's polished plate turned aside the lance._
   - _A full suit of plate could weigh more than fifty pounds._
18. A trophy or prize awarded to the winner of a contest.
   - Simple: A cup or trophy given to the winner of a competition.
   - _The champion hoisted the plate above her head for the cameras._
   - _The winning horse's owner held up the silver plate for the cameras._
19. Any of the enlarged scales that cover parts of the body in certain reptiles.
   - Simple: One of the large, flat scales on some reptiles, like the ones on a turtle's shell.
   - _A tortoise's shell is divided into distinct plates called scutes._
   - _Each broad plate along the lizard's belly overlaps the next._
21. A foot, especially a person's foot. *(dialectal, Cockney)*
   - Simple: A person's foot.
   - _After standing all day, his plates ached something awful._
   - _After the long walk, Grandad put his tired plates up on the footstool._

## Verb

6. To coat the surface of an object with a thin layer of another material, usually a metal.
   - Simple: To cover an object with a thin layer of metal.
   - _The jeweler plated the brass pendant with a thin film of silver._
   - _Factories often plate steel bolts with zinc to stop rust._
9. To arrange the various components of a dish on a plate before it is served.
   - Simple: To arrange the parts of a meal on a plate before serving it.
   - _He plated the fish over a bed of greens with a swirl of sauce._
   - _Line cooks must plate dozens of orders during the dinner rush._
15. In baseball, to score a run, or to drive a runner across home plate.
   - Simple: In baseball, to score a run or bring a runner home.
   - _The double down the line plated both runners._
   - _A sacrifice fly can plate a run without a hit._
20. To arm or protect something by covering it with metal plates.
   - Simple: To cover something with metal sheets to protect it.
   - _Shipwrights plated the warship's sides with thick iron._
   - _Shipbuilders began to plate wooden warships with iron to protect them from cannonballs._

## Other meanings

- (noun) Dishes, cutlery, and ornaments made of or plated with silver or gold, considered collectively; also such precious metal regarded as a valuable material.
- (noun) A music recording cut into a vinyl disc.
- (noun) A horizontal framing piece that caps or forms the base of a row of vertical wall studs.
- (noun) The official license needed to operate a cab, often a metal medallion.
- (noun) Material, usually a cheaper metal, covered with a thin coat of another, as in silver plate.
- (noun) In a vacuum tube, the positive electrode that collects electrons.
- (noun) A metal stamping card that marks paper tickets with the details of the airline issuing them.
- (noun) An agency's right to write tickets for one specific carrier.
- (noun) The vehicle identification number tag on a car, especially as a guide to the year it was built.
- (noun) A thin piece of meat from the lower chest of an animal, part of the brisket.
- (noun) A racing shoe for horses, made of extremely light steel.
- (noun) Fur pelts stitched together into a rough shape for lining a garment, before final cutting and fitting.
- (noun) A thin covering of fine fur, such as beaver, laid over the body of a hat made of cheaper material.
- (noun) One of several prospective dates or partners that someone keeps talking to at the same time, without committing to any.
- (noun) A slim Lego element, a third the thickness of the standard block, studded on its upper face.
- (verb) To pound metal out into sheets.
- (verb) To choose which carrier's ticket stock a ticket is written on.
- (verb) To work out where each stamp sat on its original printed sheet, so that the full sheet can be rebuilt.
- (verb) To work out which printing plate produced a given stamp, often from small flaws.
- (noun) Money in gold or silver coin, or sometimes tableware made of these metals.
- (noun) A round silver disc used as a charge on a coat of arms.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–5, 7–8, 10–14, 16–19, 21** — Ancient Greek platús (broad, flat, wide) is the ultimate source. It passed through Vulgar Latin *plat(t)us and Medieval Latin plata to Old French plate and Middle English plate. Spanish plato is comparable. The "foot" sense is Cockney rhyming slang based on "plates of meat."
**Meanings 6, 9, 15, 20** — Latin plata lies behind both Old English platian and Old French plater, which together gave Middle English platen.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/plate (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).