plate

I. plate¹ S2 W2 /pleɪt/ BrE AmE noun
[Sense 1,3,7: Date: 1400-1500; Language: French; Origin: plat 'plate, dish', from plat 'flat', from Vulgar Latin plattus, probably from Greek platys 'broad, flat']
[Sense 2, 4-5,8-11: Date: 1200-1300; Language: Old French; Origin: plat 'flat']
[Sense 6: Date: 1300-1400; Origin: Partly from Old French plat 'plate, piece of silver', partly from Old Spanish plata 'silver']
1. FOOD [countable]
a) a 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) the amount of food that is on a plate
plate 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] 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, ↑nameplate
3. have a lot/enough on your plate informal to have a lot of problems to deal with or problems to worry about
4. PROTECTIVE COVERING [countable]
a) technical one of the thin sheets of bone, horn etc that covers and protects the outside of some animals
b) a thin sheet of metal used to protect something
metal/steel/iron plates
The shoes had metal plates attached to the heels.
5. EARTH’S SURFACE [countable] technical one of the very large sheets of rock that form the surface of the Earth ⇨ ↑plate tectonics
6. GOLD/SILVER
a) gold/silver plate ordinary metal with a thin covering of gold or silver
b) [uncountable] things such as plates, cups, forks, or knives made of gold or silver
7. hand/give/offer somebody something on a plate to let someone get or achieve something easily, without much effort from them:
I worked hard for what I’ve got. It wasn’t handed to me on a plate.
8. PICTURES/PHOTOS [countable]
a) a 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) a picture in a book, printed on good-quality paper and usually coloured
c) a thin sheet of glass used especially in the past in photography, with chemicals on it that are sensitive to light
9. BASEBALL [countable usually singular] the place where the person hitting the ball stands
10. COMPETITION the ... Plate used in the names of sports competitions or races in which the winner gets a silver plate:
This horse won the Galway Plate.
11. TEETH [countable]
a) a thin piece of plastic shaped to fit inside a person’s mouth, into which ↑false teeth are fixed
b) 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

Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

plate

plate [plate plates plated plating] noun, verb [pleɪt] [pleɪt]

noun

FOOD
1. countable a flat, usually round, dish that you put food on
• sandwiches on a plate
• a pile of dirty plates
• dinner plates
2. countable the amount of food that you can put on a plate
• a plate of sandwiches
• two large plates of pasta

compare plateful

3. countable (especially NAmE) a whole main course of a meal, served on one plate

• Try the seafood plate.

FOR STRENGTH

4. countable a thin flat piece of metal, used especially to join or make sth stronger
• The tanks were mainly constructed of steel plates.

• She had a metal plate inserted in her arm.

FOR INFORMATION

5. countable a flat piece of metal with some information on it, for example sb's name
• A brass plate beside the door said ‘Dr Alan Tate’.

see also nameplate

ON VEHICLE

6. usually plural the pieces of metal or plastic at the front and back of a vehicle with numbers and letters on it

see also L-plate, license plate, number plate

SILVER/GOLD

7. uncountable ordinary metal that is covered with a thin layer of silver or gold
• The cutlery is plate, not solid silver.

see also gold plate, silver plate, tinplate

8. uncountable dishes, bowls, etc. that are made of silver or gold

• the family plate

ON ANIMAL

9. countable (biology) one of the thin flat pieces of horn or bone that cover and protect an animal

• the armadillo's protective shell of bony plates

GEOLOGY

10. countable one of the very large pieces of rock that form the earth's surface and move slowly
• the Pacific plate
• Earthquakes are caused by two tectonic plates bumping into each other.

see also plate tectonics

PRINTING/PHOTOGAPHY

11. countable a photograph that is used as a picture in a book, especially one that is printed on a separate page on high quality paper
• The book includes 55 colour plates.

• See plate 4.

12. countable a sheet of metal, plastic, etc. that has been treated so that words or pictures can be printed from it

• a printing plate

13. countable a thin sheet of glass, metal, etc. that is covered with chemicals so that it reacts to light and can form an image, used in larger or older cameras

IN MOUTH
14. countable a thin piece of plastic with wire or artificial teeth attached to it which fits inside your mouth in order to make your teeth straight

compare brace, dentures

IN BASEBALL

15. singular (NAmE) = home plate

IN CHURCH
16. (usually the plate) singular a flat dish that is used to collect money from people in a church
see also bookplate, breastplate, footplate, hotplate
more at hand sth to sb on a plate at hand _v., step up to the plate at step _v.
Word Origin:
Middle English (denoting a flat, thin sheet, usually of metal): from Old French, from medieval Latin plata ‘plate armour’, based on Greek platus ‘flat’. Senses 1 to 3 represent Old French plat ‘platter, large dish’, also ‘dish of meat’, noun use of Old French plat ‘flat’.
Thesaurus:
plate noun C
• He barely touched the food on his plate.
dish • • bowl • • platter •
a plate/dish/bowl/platter of sth
on a plate/dish/platter
fill a plate/dish/bowl/platter
Example Bank:
• I could see how hungry she was from the way she cleared her plate.
• She ate everything on her plate.
• The driver was arrested for having false licence/license plates on his car.
• The sink was full of dirty plates.
• a plate of rice
• He barely touched the food on his plate.
• He came in carrying a plate of sandwiches.
• The set includes four dinner plates, four side plates and four soup bowls.
• There was an enormous pile of dirty plates in the kitchen sink.
• There were two large plates of pasta on the table.
• We used plastic cutlery and ate off paper plates.
• a vehicle's license plates

Idiom: have a lot much on your plate

Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary

plate / pleɪt / noun (DISH)

A1 [ C ] a flat, usually round dish with a slightly raised edge that you eat from or serve food from:

paper/plastic/china plates

a dinner/salad plate

clean/dirty plates

There's still lots of food on your plate.

[ C ] ( also plateful ) an amount of food on a plate:

Stephen ate three plates of spaghetti.

Collins Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary

plate

[ple͟ɪt]
♦♦♦
plates
1) N-COUNT A plate is a round or oval flat dish that is used to hold food.
  Anita pushed her plate away; she had eaten virtually nothing.
N-COUNT: usu N of n
A plate of food is the amount of food on the plate. ...a huge plate of bacon and eggs.
2) N-COUNT A plate is a flat piece of metal, especially on machinery or a building.
3) N-COUNT A plate is a small, flat piece of metal with someone's name written on it, which you usually find beside the front door of an office or house.
4) N-PLURAL On a road vehicle, the plates are the panels at the front and back which display the license number in the United States, and the registration number in Britain.
→ See also number plate, license plate
  ...dusty-looking cars with New Jersey plates.
5) N-UNCOUNT Plate is dishes, bowls, and cups that are made of precious metal, especially silver or gold.
  ...gold and silver plate, jewellery, and roomfuls of antique furniture.
6) N-COUNT In printing, a plate is a sheet of metal which is carved or specially treated with chemicals so that it can be used to print text or pictures.
7) N-COUNT In photography, a plate is a thin sheet of glass that is covered with a layer of chemicals which react to the light and on which an image can be formed.
8) N-COUNT A plate in a book is a picture or photograph which takes up a whole page and is usually printed on better quality paper than the rest of the book.
  Fermor's book has 55 colour plates.
  Syn:
  illustration
9) N-COUNT In a microscope, the plate is a small rectangular piece of glass onto which you put a small amount of the substance that you want to look at. You then slide the plate under the microscope to look at the substance.
  Syn:
  slide
10) N-COUNT A dental plate is a piece of plastic which is shaped to fit inside a person's mouth and which a set of false teeth is attached to.
11) N-COUNT In geology, a plate is a large piece of the earth's surface, perhaps as large as a continent, which moves very slowly. [TECHNICAL]
  The United States Geological Survey has revealed that the earthquake was not caused by a simple horizontal movement of one plate past another.
12) N-COUNT: usu the N in sing In baseball, the plate is the same as the home plate. [AM]
13) PHRASE: V inflects If you have enough on your plate or have a lot on your plate, you have a lot of work to do or a lot of things to deal with.
  We have enough on our plate. There is plenty of work to be done on what we have.
14) PHRASE: V inflects (disapproval) If you say that someone has things handed to them on a plate, you disapprove of them because they get good things easily. [mainly BRIT]
  Even the presidency was handed to him on a plate.

Merriam-Webster's Advanced Learner's Dictionary

plate

²plate verb plates; plat·ed; plat·ing [+ obj]
1 : to add a layer of metal to the outside of (something) - usually used as (be) plated
• The tin cups were plated with silver.
2 baseball : to cause (a run or a runner) to score
• His second hit plated [=drove in] two runs.

¹plate /ˈpleɪt/ noun, pl plates
1 [count]
a : a flat and usually round dish that is used for eating or serving food
• plates, bowls, and cups
• a paper plate
• fancy dinner/salad/bread/dessert plates
• a large serving plate [=platter]
• pie plates [=plates used to hold pies]
- see picture at place setting
b : the food that is served on a plate
• a plate of cheese and crackers
• a fruit/vegetable/meat plate [=a plate filled with different fruits/vegetables/meats]
• I ate a salad and a plate of spaghetti.
2 [count] : a thin, flat piece of metal
• A shiny metal plate was screwed to the door.
• He had a steel plate put in his shoulder after the accident.
• a plate of armor
- see also breastplate, nameplate
3 [count] : license plate
- usually plural
• a car with New York plates
4 [count] : one of the usually flat, hard pieces that cover the body of some animals
• a dinosaur covered in bony plates
5 [singular] : a dish or small container used in some churches to collect money
• They passed around the plate during services.
• the collection plate
6 the plate baseball : home plate
• The runner was tagged out at the plate.
- see also step up to the plate (below)
7 [count] geology : one of the very large sections of the Earth's surface that are believed to move and cause earthquakes where they touch each other - see also plate tectonics
8 [noncount]
a : metal that is covered with a thin layer of gold or silver
• gold/silver plate
b : objects (such as dishes, knives, forks, etc.) that are covered with a thin layer of gold or silver
• The dishes were solid silver, not plate.
9 [count] : a special page in a book that has pictures on it
• The book is 500 pages long and contains over 50 color plates.
- see also bookplate
10 [count] : a surface of metal, plastic, or wood that is used in printing words or pictures on paper
• printing plates
11 [count] : a sheet of glass or plastic that is treated with a special chemical and used in photography
• photographic plates
12 [count] : the part of a set of false teeth that attaches to the mouth
• the upper/lower plate of a set of dentures
clean your plate
- see ²clean
on a plate informal : in a way that requires no effort : as a gift
• He was handed the job on a plate. [=he was given the job without having to do anything to earn it]
• The victory was handed to us on a plate.
on your plate informal
- used to refer to the things that a person has to do or deal with at one time
• She has a lot on her plate right now. [=she has a lot of things that she has to deal with right now]
• I've got enough on my plate to keep me busy this summer.
step up to the plate baseball : to move into position next to home plate in order to bat - often used figuratively in U.S. English
• He finally stepped up to the plate [=he finally took action] and asked her to marry him.
• If you want this promotion, you're going to have to step up to the plate. [=you will have to improve your work performance to show that you deserve the promotion]

- see also fashion plate

1. noun
a) A dish from which food is serve d or eat en.
I filled my plate from the bountiful table.
b) The contents of such a dish.
I ate a plate of beans.
2. verb
a) To cover the surface material of an object with a thin coat of another material, usually a metal.
This ring is plated with a thin layer of gold.
b) To place the various elements of a meal on the diners plate prior to serving.
After preparation, the chef will plate the dish.