Plate

Plate, plāt, n. something flat: a thin piece of metal: wrought gold and silver: household utensils in gold and silver: a shallow dish nearly flat: an engraved piece of metal.—v.t. to overlay with a coating of plate or metal: to arm or defend with metal plates: to adorn with metal: to beat into thin plates.—n. Plate′-arm′our, armour of strong metal plates for protecting ships-of-war, &c.—adj. Plā′ted, covered with plates of metal for strength, as ships: covered with a coating of a more precious metal: (zool.) covered with hard scales.—ns. Plate′-fleet (Milt.), vessels used for carrying precious metals; Plate′ful, as much as a plate will hold; Plate′-glass, a fine kind of glass, cast in thick plates, used for mirrors and large shop-windows; Plate′-lay′er, a workman whose occupation it is to lay the rails of a railway and fix them to the sleepers; Plate′-mark, a mark or stamp on gold or silver plate to indicate its purity and the place where it was made; Plate′-pow′der, a composition of rouge and prepared chalk used for cleaning gold and silver plate and plated articles; Plate′-print′ing, the process of printing from engraved plates; Plā′ter, one who plates articles with a coating of gold or silver; Plate′-rack, a frame for holding plates, &c., when not in use; Plate′-warm′er, an apparatus in which plates are warmed before the fire; Plā′ting, the covering of an inferior metal with one of the precious metals: a thin coating of metal on another.—adj. Plā′ty, like a plate.—Half′-plate, in photography, a size of plate measuring 4¾ by 6½ in. (4¼ by 5½ in U.S.); Quar′ter-plate, 3¼ by 4¼ in.; Whole′-plate, 6½ by 8½ in. [O. Fr. plate, fem. of plat, flat—Gr. platys, broad.]