plate

noun

• 1a flat dish, typically circular and made of china, from which food is eaten or served.
• an amount of food on a plate:a plate of spaghetti
• a flat dish, typically made of metal or wood, passed around a church congregation in order to collect donations of money.
• a course of a meal, served on one plate:I’ll have the salad plate
• Biology a shallow glass dish on which a culture of cells or microorganisms may be grown.
• dishes, bowls, cups, and other utensils made of gold, silver, or other metal.

  [from Old French vaisselle en plate 'dishes and plates made of a single piece of metal']
• a silver or gold dish or trophy awarded as a prize in a race or competition:she lifted the plate in victory
• [in names] British a race or competition in which a silver or gold trophy is awarded:the final of the Ladies' Plate at Henley

• 2a thin, flat sheet or strip of metal or other material, typically one used to join or strengthen things or forming part of a machine:he underwent surgery to have a steel plate put into his leg
• a small, flat piece of metal or other material bearing a name or inscription and attached to a door or other object:a brass plate with her initials
• (usually plates)short for license plate.the car had Vermont plates
• Botany & Zoology a thin, flat organic structure or formation:the fused bony plates protect the tortoise’s soft parts
• Geology each of the several rigid pieces of the earth’s lithosphere that together make up the earth’s surface. See also plate tectonics.
• Baseballshort for home plate.
• a piece of lumber laid horizontally along the top of a wall to support the ends of joists or rafters.
• a light horseshoe for a racehorse.

• 3a sheet of metal, plastic, or some other material bearing an image of type or illustrations from which multiple copies are printed.
• a printed photograph, picture, or illustration, especially one on superior-quality paper in a book.
• a thin sheet of metal, glass, or other substance coated with a light-sensitive film on which an image is formed, used in larger or older types of cameras.

• 4a thin piece of plastic molded to the shape of a person’s mouth and gums, to which artificial teeth or another orthodontic appliance are attached.
• informal a complete denture or orthodontic appliance.

• 5a thin piece of metal that acts as an electrode in a capacitor, battery, or cell.
• the anode of a thermionic tube.

verb

• 1cover (a metal object) with a thin coating or film of a different metal:she had already taken the coin to a jeweler to be plated [as adjective, in combination]: (-plated)the cylinder is nickel-plated
• cover (an object) with plates of metal for decoration, protection, or strength.

• 2serve or arrange (food) on a plate or plates before a meal:overcooked vegetables won’t look appetizing, no matter how they are plated

• 3 Baseball score (a run or runs); cause (someone) to score.

• 4 Biology inoculate (cells or infective material) onto a culture plate, especially with the object of isolating a particular strain of microorganisms or estimating viable cell numbers.