plate

Etymology 1

Middle English, from Old French plate, from Medieval Latin plata, from Vulgar Latin *plat(t)us, from Ancient Greek πλατύς (platús, “broad, flat, wide”). Compare Spanish plato.

noun

1. A slightly curved but almost flat dish from which food is served or eaten.
   I filled my plate from the bountiful table.
2. (uncountable) Such dishes collectively.
3. The contents of such a dish.
   I ate a plate of beans.
4. A course at a meal.
   The meat plate was particularly tasty.
5. (figurative) An agenda of tasks, problems, or responsibilities
   With revenues down and transfer payments up, the legislature has a full plate.
6. A flat object of uniform thickness.
   The most important and most expensive part of any solar cell is a silicon plate.
7. A vehicle license plate.
   He stole a car and changed the plates as soon as he could.
8. A taxi permit, especially of a metal disc.
9. (historical) Plate armor.
   He was confronted by two knights in full plate.
10. A layer of a material on the surface of something, usually qualified by the type of the material; plating
    The bullets just bounced off the steel plate on its hull.
11. A material covered with such a layer.
    If you're not careful, someone will sell you silverware that's really only silver plate.
12. (dated) An ornamental or food service item coated with silver or gold or otherwise decorated.
    The tea was served in the plate.
    The silver ore of pure Charity is an expensive article in the catalogue of a man's good Qualities—whereas the sentimental French Plate I use instead of it makes just as good a shew—and pays no tax. 1777, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal, V.i
13. (weightlifting) A weighted disk, usually of metal, with a hole in the center for use with a barbell, dumbbell, or exercise machine.
14. (printing) An engraved surface used to transfer an image to paper.
    We finished making the plates this morning.
15. (printing, photography) An image or copy.
16. (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.
17. (dentistry) A shaped and fitted surface, usually ceramic or metal that fits into the mouth and in which teeth are implanted; a dental plate.
18. (construction) A horizontal framing member at the top or bottom of a group of vertical studs.
19. (Cockney rhyming slang) A foot, from "plates of meat".
    Sit down and give your plates a rest.
20. (baseball) Home plate.
    There was a close play at the plate.
21. (geology) A tectonic plate.
    Our planet's crust is split into eight major plates and many minor plates. 2012, Chinle Miller, In Mesozoic Lands: The Mesozoic Geology of Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, Kindle edition
22. (herpetology) Any of various larger scales found in some reptiles.
23. (engineering, electricity) A flat electrode such as can be found in an accumulator battery, or in an electrolysis tank.
24. (engineering, electricity) The anode of a vacuum tube.
    Regulating the oscillator plate voltage greatly improves the keying.
25. A prize given to the winner in a contest.
26. (chemistry) Any flat piece of material such as coated glass or plastic.
27. (aviation, travel industry, dated) A metallic card, used to imprint tickets with an airline's logo, name, and numeric code.
28. (aviation, travel industry, by extension) The ability of a travel agent to issue tickets on behalf of a particular airline.
29. (Australia) A VIN plate, particularly with regard to the car's year of manufacture.
30. One of the thin parts of the brisket of an animal.
31. A very light steel horseshoe for racehorses.
32. (furriers' slang) Skins for fur linings of garments, sewn together and roughly shaped, but not finally cut or fitted.
33. (hat-making) The fine nap (as of beaver, musquash, etc.) on a hat whose body is made from inferior material.
34. (music) A record, usually vinyl.
35. (military) trauma plate.
    The SAPI plate in his vest protected him from the bullet's impact.

verb

1. 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.
2. (cooking, photography) To place the various elements of a meal on the diner's plate prior to serving.
   After preparation, the chef will plate the dish.
   I took her for sushi, she wanted to fuck / So we took it to go, told 'em don't even plate it 2011, “HYFR”, in Take Care, performed by Drake ft. Lil Wayne
3. (baseball) To score a run.
   The single plated the runner from second base.
4. (transitive) To arm or defend with metal plates.
5. (transitive) To beat into thin plates.
6. (aviation, travel industry) To specify which airline a ticket will be issued on behalf of.
   Tickets are normally plated on an itinerary's first international airline.
7. (philately) to categorise stamps based on their position on the original sheet, in order to reconstruct an entire sheet.
8. (philately, particularly with early British stamps) To identify the printing plate used.

Etymology 2

Middle English, partly from Anglo-Norman plate (“plate, bullion”) and partly from Latin plata (“silver”), from Vulgar Latin *platta (“metal plate”), from feminine of Latin *plattus (“flat”).

noun

1. Precious metal, especially silver.
   At every meal—and I have heard the meals at Petleighcote were neither abundant nor succulent—enough plate stood upon the table to pay for the feeding of the poor of the whole county for a month 1864, Andrew Forrester, The Female Detective

Etymology 3

From Spanish plata (“silver”).

noun

1. (obsolete) Silver or gold, in the form of a coin, or less often silver or gold utensils or dishes.
2. (heraldry) A roundel of silver or argent.