Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Topic: ANIMALS

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'

plate

1 noun
     
plate1 S2 W2
1

food

[countable]
a) DFU 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: a restaurant where you can eat the most delicious dishes (NOT plates) you can imagine
2

sign

[countable]TTC 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) technicalHBA 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] technicalHEG one of the very large sheets of rock that form the surface of the Earth ➔ plate tectonics
6

gold/silver

a)

gold/silver plate

HCE ordinary metal with a thin covering of gold or silver
b) DFU [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) TCN 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) TCN a picture in a book, printed on good-quality paper and usually coloured
c) TCP a thin sheet of glass used especially in the past in photography, with chemicals on it that are sensitive to light
9DSB

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) MH a thin piece of plastic shaped to fit inside a person's mouth, into which false teeth are fixed
b) MI British English a thin piece of plastic with wires fixed to it, that some people wear in their mouth to make their teeth straight [= brace British English]
Definition of plate from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English within
the topic ANIMALS
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