1. Dish on which food is served or from which food is eaten
   "He piled his plate high with turkey and mashed potatoes"
    
2. (baseball) base consisting of a rubber slab where the batter stands; it must be touched by a base runner in order to score
   "he ruled that the runner failed to touch home plate";
   - home plate, home base, home
    
3. A main course served on a plate
   "a vegetable plate"; "the blue plate special"
    
4. The quantity contained in a plate
   "He ate a plate of spaghetti";
   - plateful
    
5. A sheet of metal, wood, glass or plastic
   "They installed a glass plate in the window frame"
    
6. A rigid layer of the Earth's crust that is believed to drift slowly
   "The movement of crustal plates is responsible for continental drift";
   - crustal plate
    
7. A full-page illustration (usually on slick paper)
   "The book contained several colour plates of exotic birds"
    
8. Any flat platelike body structure or part
   "The doctor examined the X-ray of the patient's cranial plate"
    
9. A dental appliance that artificially replaces missing teeth
   "The elderly man wore a dental plate to improve his ability to eat and speak";
   - denture, dental plate
    
10. The positively charged electrode in a vacuum tube
    "The technician replaced the worn-out plate in the vacuum tube"
     
11. A flat sheet of metal or glass on which a photographic image can be recorded
    "Early astronomers used photographic plates to capture images of the night sky";
    - photographic plate
     
12. Structural member consisting of a horizontal beam that provides bearing and anchorage
    "The carpenter secured the wall frame to the bottom plate"
     
13. A shallow receptacle for collection in church
    "The ushers passed the collection plate during the service";
    - collection plate
     
14. A metal sheathing of uniform thickness (such as the shield attached to an artillery piece to protect the gunners)
    "The tank's armour plates deflected most of the incoming fire";
    - scale, shell
     
15. The thin under portion of the forequarter
    "The butcher recommended plate for slow cooking"

1. Coat with a layer of metal
   "plate spoons with silver"

Sounds like: planter, pl, plate

Derived forms: plating, plates, plated

Type of: anatomical structure, anode, bag, base, bodily structure, body structure, coat, complex body part, containerful, crust, cut of beef, dental appliance, Earth's crust, entrée, flat solid, flatware [N. Amer], illustration, main course, receptacle, sheet, shield, structural member, structure, surface

Part of: construction, electron tube, structure, thermionic tube, thermionic vacuum tube, thermionic valve, tube, vacuum tube

Encyclopedia: Plate, Tom