From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishplateplate1 /pleɪt/ ●●● S2 W2 noun 1 food [countable] a) DFUa flat and usually round dish that you eat from or serve food on The plates were piled high with rice. a dinner plate b) (also plateful)AMOUNT the amount of food that is on a plateplate of He’s eaten a whole plate of french fries. ► Do not use plate when you mean ‘food cooked in a particular way as a meal’. Use dish: the chef who created this dish (NOT this plate)2 sign [countable]TTC a flat piece of metal with words or numbers on it, for example on a door or a car The brass plate on the door said ‘Dr Rackman’.number/license/registration plate (=on a car) Did anyone see the car’s license plate? → L-plate, nameplate3 → have a lot/enough on your plate4 protective covering [countable] a) technicalHBA one of the thin sheets of bone, horn etc that covers and protects the outside of some animals b) PMWa thin sheet of metal used to protect somethingmetal/steel/iron plates The shoes had metal plates attached to the heels.5 earth’s surface [countable] technicalHEG one of the very large sheets of rock that form the surface of the Earth → plate tectonics6 gold/silver a) gold/silver plateHCM ordinary metal with a thin covering of gold or silver b) DFU[uncountable] things such as plates, cups, forks, or knives made of gold or silver7 → hand/give/offer somebody something on a plate8 pictures/photos [countable] a) TCNa sheet of metal that has been cut or treated in a special way so that words or pictures can be printed from its surface copper printing plates b) TCNPICTUREa picture in a book, printed on good-quality paper and usually coloured c) TCPa thin sheet of glass used especially in the past in photography, with chemicals on it that are sensitive to light9 DSBbaseball [countable usually singular] the place where the person hitting the ball stands 10 → the ... Plate11 teeth [countable] a) MHa thin piece of plastic shaped to fit inside a person’s mouth, into which false teeth are fixed b) MI British English a thin piece of plastic with wires fixed to it, that some people wear in their mouth to make their teeth straight SYN brace British English → hotplate
Examples from the Corpus
plate• The engine model number is on a plate just above the spark plug.• When the flames die out, transfer the rabbit to a plate.• The lateral and ventral arm plates have distinctive transverse ridges most noticeable in dry specimens.• The ventral interradial areas are covered with large plates like those of the dorsal surface, spinelets may be present.• Police found the car in Knoxville, Tenn., with an Arizona license plate in the trunk.• Too many plates and you're asking for trouble.• Place chili on plate and top with quail.• The reptile's body is covered with horny protective plates.• a salad plate• Doctors had to insert a steel plate to repair the damage done to his head.• This, of course, relates directly to the plate histories of the two continents.• A little boy was washing plates and cups in a bowl of water glutinous with grease, food matter and drowned flies.plate of• The waiter brought us two heaping plates of spaghetti.number/license/registration plate• The seven were riding in a van with Missouri license plates that pulled into the path of the tractor-trailer rig.• And remember that it is illegal to drive with an obscured license plate.• What better suspect than some one with an out-of-state license plate, parked so very near the scene of the crime?• A parent who was taking her children to school noted down the number plate.• Cut out two thin rectangles for the number plates and leave to dry on non-stick paper before securing on.• He said he was a but I had the license plate number.• The date on the license plate was 1967, which would make Billy Pilgrim forty-four years old.• Jim was so upset that he sold the burgundy car - and transferred the number plate to the Rolls.metal/steel/iron plates• Or magnetic rugs for men who have metal plates in their heads?• In Sheffield they made steel plates and armoured plates for their ships.• As for the ships, steel plates meant to repair them have found their way into the homes of Vladivostok's elite.• Four rounds after people fall in, the metal plates close again.• Eleven of the steel plates themselves, incidentally, are also included in the show.• His right and left wrist were the worst affected and his body rejected the metal plates and wires inserted into them.• Telford drove piles in behind the lock walls and bolted together the iron plates to make the lock both stable and watertight.• It met the wood in massive cylinders, thirteen feet across, made of inch-thick wrought-iron plates riveted together.plateplate2 verb [transitive] → be plated with something→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
plate• To plate, look for the instructions in your manual, it is quite easy, once you are threaded up.• The jawless fish, even though their heads were heavily plated with bone, had chinks in their armour to accommodate eyes.Origin plate1 1. (1400-1500) French plat “plate, dish”, from plat “flat”, from Vulgar Latin plattus, probably from Greek platys “broad, flat”2. (1200-1300) Old French plat “flat”3. (1300-1400) Partly from Old French plat “plate, piece of silver”, partly from Old Spanish plata “silver” 