plate

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A smooth, flat, relatively thin, rigid body of uniform thickness.
• noun A sheet of hammered, rolled, or cast metal.
• noun A very thin applied or deposited coat of metal.
• noun A flat piece of metal forming part of a machine.
• noun A flat piece of metal on which something is engraved.
• noun A license plate.
• noun A thin piece of metal used for armor.
• noun Armor made of such pieces.
• noun A sheet of metal, plastic, rubber, paperboard, or other material prepared for use as a printing surface, such as an electrotype or a stereotype.
• noun A print of a woodcut, lithograph, or other engraved material, especially when reproduced in a book.
• noun A full-page book illustration, often in color and printed on paper different from that used for text pages.
• noun Photography A light-sensitive sheet of glass or metal on which a photographic image can be recorded.
• noun Dentistry A thin metallic or plastic support fitted to the gums to anchor artificial teeth.
• noun Architecture In wood-frame construction, a horizontal member, capping the exterior wall studs, upon which the roof rafters rest.
• noun Baseball Home plate.
• noun A shallow dish in which food is served or from which it is eaten.
• noun The contents of such a dish.
• noun A whole course served on such a dish.
• noun Service and food for one person at a meal.
• noun Household articles, such as hollowware, covered with a precious metal, such as silver or gold.
• noun A dish passed among the members of a group or congregation for the collection of offerings.
• noun A dish, cup, or other article of silver or gold offered as a prize.
• noun A contest, especially a horserace, offering such a prize.
• noun A thin cut of beef from the brisket.
• noun A thin flat layer or scale, as that of a fish.
• noun A platelike part, organ, or structure, such as that covering some reptiles.
• noun An electrode, as in a storage battery or capacitor.
• noun The anode in an electron tube.
• noun Informal A schedule of matters to be dealt with.
• transitive verb To coat or cover with a thin layer of metal.
• transitive verb To cover with armor plate.
• transitive verb Printing To make a stereotype or electrotype from.
• transitive verb To give a glossy finish to (paper) by pressing between metal sheets or rollers.
• transitive verb To arrange (food) on a plate, as for serving.
• transitive verb Baseball To cause (a run) to be scored or (a runner) to cross home plate, as by a hit.

from The Century Dictionary.

• To arm with platearmor for defense.
• To overlay or coat with silver, gold, or other metal; specifically, to attach a perma nent covering or film of one metal to (the surface of another).—3. To arm of cover (a ship) with armor-plates.—4. To beat into thin flat pieces or laminæ.
• To implant (microorganisms) in a thin layer of gelatin spread upon a glass plate. See plate-culture.
• noun In bacteriology, the film of agar-agar or gelatin poured upon a glass plate or into a Petri dish for the purpose of separating specific organisms. See plating, 3. Also called poured plate.
• noun A butchers' term for the long, thin cut of beef, weighing usually about 60 pounds, and including the brisket, the navel piece, and the thinner inside piece called the skirt.
• noun In geology, a wide area of flat and undisturbed strata.