Definition of "plate"

A slightly curved but almost flat dish from which food is served or eaten.  examples

(uncountable) Such dishes collectively.  examples

The contents of such a dish.  examples

A course at a meal.  examples

(figuratively) An agenda of tasks, problems, or responsibilities  examples

A flat object of uniform thickness.  examples

(especially Australia; metonymically, plural only) Vehicle license plates, registration plates.  examples

A taxi permit, especially of a metal disc.  examples

(historical) Plate armor.  quotations

A layer of a material on the surface of something, usually qualified by the type of the material; plating  examples

A material covered with such a layer.  examples

(dated) An ornamental or food service item coated with silver or gold or otherwise decorated.  quotations  examples

(weightlifting) A weighted disk, usually of metal, with a hole in the center for use with a barbell, dumbbell, or exercise machine.  examples

(printing) An engraved surface used to transfer an image to paper.  examples

(printing, photography) An image or copy.  examples

(printing, publishing) An illustration in a book, either black and white, or colour, usually on a page of paper of different quality from the text pages.  examples

(dentistry) A shaped and fitted surface, usually ceramic or metal that fits into the mouth and in which teeth are implanted; a dental plate.  examples

(construction) A horizontal framing member at the top or bottom of a group of vertical studs.  examples

(Cockney rhyming slang) A foot, from "plates of meat".

(baseball) Home plate.  examples

(geology) A tectonic plate.  quotations

(herpetology) Any of various larger scales found in some reptiles.

(engineering, electricity) A flat electrode such as can be found in an accumulator battery, or in an electrolysis tank.  examples

(engineering, electricity) The anode of a vacuum tube.  examples

A prize given to the winner in a contest.  examples

(chemistry) Any flat piece of material such as coated glass or plastic.  examples

(aviation, travel industry, dated) A metallic card, used to imprint tickets with an airline's logo, name, and numeric code.  examples

(aviation, travel industry, by extension) The ability of a travel agent to issue tickets on behalf of a particular airline.  examples

(Australia) A VIN plate, particularly with regard to the car's year of manufacture.  examples

One of the thin parts of the brisket of an animal.  examples

A very light steel horseshoe for racehorses.  examples

(furriers' slang) Skins for fur linings of garments, sewn together and roughly shaped, but not finally cut or fitted.

(hat-making) The fine nap (as of beaver, musquash, etc.) on a hat whose body is made from inferior material.  examples

(music) A record, usually vinyl.  examples

(military) trauma plate.

To cover the surface material of an object with a thin coat of another material, usually a metal.  examples

(cooking, photography) To place the various elements of a meal on the diner's plate prior to serving.  quotations  examples

(baseball) To score a run.  examples

(transitive) To arm or defend with metal plates.  examples

(transitive) To beat into thin plates.  examples

(aviation, travel industry) To specify which airline a ticket will be issued on behalf of.  examples

(philately) to categorise stamps based on their position on the original sheet, in order to reconstruct an entire sheet.  examples

(philately, particularly with early British stamps) To identify the printing plate used.  examples

Precious metal, especially silver.  quotations  examples

(obsolete) Silver or gold, in the form of a coin, or less often silver or gold utensils or dishes.  quotations

(heraldry) A roundel of silver or argent.  examples