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.
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.
Plate (?), 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.
2. To cover or overlay with plates of metal; to arm with metal for
defense.
Thus plated in habiliments of war.
Shak.