plate

noun

• 1a flat dish, typically circular and made of china, from which food is eaten or served: he pushed his empty plate to one side and sipped his wine a dinner plate
• an amount of food on a plate:a plate of spaghetti
• North American a main course of a meal, served on one plate:he recommended the roast beef plate
• Australian/NZ a plate of food contributed by a guest to a social gathering: he was invited to a party and asked to bring a plate
• a dish, typically made of metal or wood, passed round a church congregation in order to collect donations of money: they brought round the collection plates
• Biology a shallow glass dish on which a culture of cells or microorganisms may be grown: a tissue culture plate

• 2 [mass noun] dishes, bowls, cups, and other utensils made of gold, silver, or other metal: an exhibition of the plate belonging to the college

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

• 3a 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 discreet brass plate announced William Marsden, RA
• short for number plate.the car had German plates
• Baseballshort for home plate.
• a horizontal timber laid along the top of a wall to support the ends of joists or rafters.
• a light horseshoe for a racehorse.

• 4 Botany & Zoology a thin, flat organic structure or formation:the fused bony plates protect the tortoise’s soft parts

• 5 Geology each of the several rigid pieces of the earth’s lithosphere which together make up the earth’s surface: the Pacific Ocean plate(See also plate tectonics.).

• 6a sheet of metal, plastic, or other material bearing an image of type or illustrations from which multiple copies are printed: the correct alignment of the plates in four-colour printing
• a printed photograph, picture, or illustration, especially one on superior-quality paper in a book: the book contains sixty colour plates
• 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 camera.

• 7a thin piece of plastic moulded 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.

• 8a thin piece of metal that acts as an electrode in a capacitor, battery, or cell.
• North American the anode of a thermionic valve.

verb

• 1cover (a metal object) with a thin coating of a different metal.
• cover (an object) with plates of metal for decoration, protection, or strength: the ship is plated in the bows with steel eighteen millimetres thick

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

• 3 Baseball score or cause to score (a run or runs): Matt Wignot plated two of Clarkson’s runs

• 4 Biology inoculate (cells or infective material) on to a culture plate, especially with the object of isolating a particular strain of micro-organisms or estimating viable cell numbers.