a. Covered with defensive plates of metal, as a ship of war; steel-clad. [ 1913 Webster ]

This day will be launched . . . the first armor-plated steam frigate in the possession of Great Britain. Times (Dec. 29, 1860). [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. 1 protected with a covering of armor.
Syn. -- steel-plated. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

{ } n. [ Back, n. or a. + piece, plate. ] 1. A piece, or plate which forms the back of anything, or which covers the back. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Specifically: A piece of plate armor protecting the back; -- it is worn as part of a cuirass. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

{ } n. (Mach.) The foundation framing or piece, by which the other parts are supported and held in place; the bed; -- called also baseplate and soleplate. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A label, placed upon or in a book, showing its ownership or its position in a library. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A plate of metal covering the breast as defensive armor. [ 1913 Webster ]

Before his old rusty breastplate could be scoured, and his cracked headpiece mended. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A piece against which the workman presses his breast in operating a breast drill, or other similar tool. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A strap that runs across a horse's breast. Ash. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Jewish Antiq.) A part of the vestment of the high priest, worn upon the front of the ephod. It was a double piece of richly embroidered stuff, a span square, set with twelve precious stones, on which were engraved the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. See Ephod. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Contemplated p. pr. & vb. n. Contemplating. ] [ L. contemplatus, p. p. of contemplari to contemplate; con- + templum a space for observation marked out by the augur. See Temple. ] 1. To look at on all sides or in all its bearings; to view or consider with continued attention; to regard with deliberate care; to meditate on; to study. [ 1913 Webster ]

To love, at least contemplate and admire,
What I see excellent.
Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

We thus dilate
Our spirits to the size of that they contemplate.
Byron. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To consider or have in view, as contingent or probable; to look forward to; to purpose; to intend. [ 1913 Webster ]

There remain some particulars to complete the information contemplated by those resolutions. A. Hamilton. [ 1913 Webster ]

If a treaty contains any stipulations which contemplate a state of future war. Kent.

Syn. -- To view; behold; study; ponder; muse; meditate on; reflect on; consider; intend; design; plan; propose; purpose. See Meditate. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To consider or think studiously; to ponder; to reflect; to muse; to meditate. [ 1913 Webster ]

So many hours must I contemplate. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (a) A plate of polished copper on which a design or writing is engraved. (b) An impression on paper taken from such a plate. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ In printing from a copper- or steel plate the lines are filled with ink, the surface of the plate is wiped clean, the paper laid upon it, and the impression taken by pressing it under the roller of a plate press. [ 1913 Webster ]

Copperplate press. See Plate press, under Plate. [ 1913 Webster ]

A hood over the end of a wagon wheel hub to keep dirt away from the axle. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A hardened steel plate having a hole, or a gradation of conical holes, through which wires are drawn to be reduced and elongated. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Electroplating. ] (Mech.) To plate or cover with a coating of metal, usually silver, nickel, chromium, or gold, by means of electrolysis. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who electroplates. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } v. t. [ Pref. ex- + plat or plait. ] To explain; to unfold. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Like Solon's self explatest the knotty laws. B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Locomotives) See Footboard (a). [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Implated; p. pr. & vb. n. Implating. ] To cover with plates; to sheathe; as, to implate a ship with iron. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a square plate bearing the letter L that is attached to both ends of a car to indicate that the driver is a learner. [ British ] [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. See Gorget, 1 and 2. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F., from Gr. &unr_;. See Omo-, and Plate. ] (Anat.) The shoulder blade, or scapula. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. plate a plate of metal, a cuirsas, F. plat a plate, a shallow vessel of silver, other metal, or earth, fr. plat flat, Gr. &unr_;. See Place, n. ] 1. A flat, or nearly flat, piece of metal, the thickness of which is small in comparison with the other dimensions; a thick sheet of metal; as, a steel plate. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Metallic armor composed of broad pieces. [ 1913 Webster ]

Mangled . . . through plate and mail. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Domestic vessels and utensils, as flagons, dishes, cups, etc., wrought in gold or silver. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Metallic ware which is plated, in distinction from that which is silver or gold throughout. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. A small, shallow, and usually circular, vessel of metal or wood, or of earth glazed and baked, from which food is eaten at table. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. [ Cf. Sp. plata silver. ] A piece of money, usually silver money. [ Obs. ] “Realms and islands were as plates dropp'd from his pocket.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. A piece of metal on which anything is engraved for the purpose of being printed; hence, an impression from the engraved metal; as, a book illustrated with plates; a fashion plate. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. A page of stereotype, electrotype, or the like, for printing from; as, publisher's plates. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. That part of an artificial set of teeth which fits to the mouth, and holds the teeth in place. It may be of gold, platinum, silver, rubber, celluloid, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

10. (Arch.) A horizontal timber laid upon a wall, or upon corbels projecting from a wall, and supporting the ends of other timbers; also used specifically of the roof plate which supports the ends of the roof trusses or, in simple work, the feet of the rafters. [ 1913 Webster ]

11. (Her.) A roundel of silver or tinctured argent. [ 1913 Webster ]

12. (Photog.) A sheet of glass, porcelain, metal, etc., with a coating that is sensitive to light. [ 1913 Webster ]

13. A prize giving to the winner in a contest. [ 1913 Webster ]

14. (Baseball) A small five-sided area (enveloping a diamond-shaped area one foot square) beside which the batter stands and which must be touched by some part of a player on completing a run; -- called also home base, or home plate. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

15. One of the thin parts of the bricket of an animal. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

16. A very light steel racing horsehoe. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

17. Loosely, a sporting contest for a prize; specif., in horse racing, a race for a prize, the contestants not making a stake. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

18. Skins for fur linings of garments, sewed together and roughly shaped, but not finally cut or fitted. [ Furrier's Cant ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

19. (Hat Making) The fine nap (as of beaver, hare's wool, musquash, nutria, or English black wool) on a hat the body of which is of an inferior substance. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

20. a quantity sufficient to fill a plate; a plateful; a dish containing that quantity; a plate of spaghetti. [ PJC ]

21. the food and service supplied to a customer at a restaurant; as, the turkey dinner is $9 a plate; I'll have a plate of spaghetti. [ PJC ]

22. a flat dish of glass or plastic with a fitted cover, used for culturing microorganisms in a laboratory. [ PJC ]

23. the identification tag required to be displayed on the outside of a vehicle; same as license plate; -- often used in the plural. [ PJC ]

24. an agenda or schedule of tasks to be performed; I have a lot on my plate today. [ colloq. ] [ PJC ]

☞ Plate is sometimes used in an adjectival sense or in combination, the phrase or compound being in most cases of obvious signification; as, plate basket or plate-basket, plate rack or plate-rack. [ 1913 Webster ]

Home plate. (Baseball) See Home base, under Home. --
Plate armor. (a) See Plate, n., 2. (b) Strong metal plates for protecting war vessels, fortifications, and the like. --
Plate bone, the shoulder blade, or scapula. --
Plate girder, a girder, the web of which is formed of a single vertical plate, or of a series of such plates riveted together. --
Plate glass. See under Glass. --
Plate iron, wrought iron plates. --
Plate layer, a workman who lays down the rails of a railway and fixes them to the sleepers or ties. --
Plate mark, a special mark or emblematic figure stamped upon gold or silver plate, to indicate the place of manufacture, the degree of purity, and the like; thus, the local mark for London is a lion. --
Plate paper, a heavy spongy paper, for printing from engraved plates. Fairholt. --
Plate press, a press with a flat carriage and a roller, -- used for printing from engraved steel or copper plates. --
Plate printer, one who prints from engraved plates. --
Plate printing, the act or process of printing from an engraved plate or plates. --
Plate tracery. (Arch.) See under Tracery. --
Plate wheel (Mech.), a wheel, the rim and hub of which are connected by a continuous plate of metal, instead of by arms or spokes. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Plated; p. pr. & vb. n. Plating. ] 1. To cover or overlay with gold, silver, or other metals, either by a mechanical process, as hammering, or by a chemical process, as electrotyping. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To cover or overlay with plates of metal; to arm with metal for defense. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thus plated in habiliments of war. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To adorn with plated metal; as, a plated harness. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To beat into thin, flat pieces, or laminæ. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To calender; as, to plate paper. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. F. Plateaux E. Plateaus [ F., fr. OF. platel, properly a little plate. See Plate. ] 1. A flat surface; especially, a broad, level, elevated area of land; a table-land. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An ornamental dish for the table; a tray or salver. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Platefuls Enough to fill a plate; as much as a plate will hold. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Zool.) Having flat, or leaflike, gills, as the bivalve mollusks. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. See Plateau. ] A small dish. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. platine, fr. plat flat. See Plate, and cf. Platin. ] (Mach.) (a) The part of a printing press which presses the paper against the type and by which the impression is made. (b) Hence, an analogous part of a typewriter, on which the paper rests to receive an impression. (c) The movable table of a machine tool, as a planer, on which the work is fastened, and presented to the action of the tool; -- also called table. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who plates or coats articles with gold or silver; as, a silver plater. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A machine for calendering paper. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Horse Racing) A horse that runs chiefly in plate, esp. selling-plate, races; hence, an inferior race horse. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

a. [ Sp. resco, from plata silver. ] (Arch.) Resembling silver plate; -- said of certain architectural ornaments. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Geol.) A geological theory which holds that the crust of the earth (the lithosphere) is divided into a small number of large separate plates which float and move slowly around on the more plastic asthenosphere, breaking apart and moving away from each other at points where magma upwells from below, and, driven by such upwellings and other currents on the athenosphere, sliding past each other, colliding with each other, and in some cases being submerged (subducted) one below the other. This theory is now widely accepted, and explains many geological phenomena such as the clustered locations of earthquakes, mountain building, volcanism, and the similarities observed between the geology of continents, such as South America and Africa which are now far apart, but, according to the theory, were once joined together. The motions of such tectonic plates are very slow, typically only several centimeters per year, but over tens and hundreds of millions of years, cause very large changes in the relative positions of the continents. The consequence of such movement of plates is called continental drift. [ PJC ]

n. [ Gr. &unr_; breadth + &unr_; to turn. ] (Anat.) One of a pair of a paired organs. [ 1913 Webster ]

. (a) A plate prepared by a mechanical process, esp. a photomechanical process. (b) A very slow photographic plate, giving good contrasts between high lights and shadows, used esp. for making lantern slides. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

{ } n. See Ridgepole. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Mach.) (a) A bedplate; as, the soleplate of a steam engine. (b) The plate forming the back of a waterwheel bucket. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a game in which something round (as a plate) is spun on edge and the name of a player is called; the named player must catch the spinning object before it falls or pay a forfeit. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. Same as Templet. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Tern, a., and Plate. ] Thin iron sheets coated with an alloy of lead and tin; -- so called because made up of three metals. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A turntable. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. avant before, fore + E. plate. ] A round plate of iron on the shaft of a tilting spear, to protect the hand. [ Written also vamplet. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

. (Photog.) A fogged plate. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

A plate heated by hot water contained in a double bottom or jacket. Knight. [ 1913 Webster ]

. (Photog.) A plate the film of which retains its sensitiveness only while wet. The film used in such plates is of collodion impregnated with bromides and iodides. Before exposure the plate is immersed in a solution of silver nitrate, and immediately after exposure it is developed and fixed. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]