| plat | A small piece or plot of ground laid out with some design, or for a special use; usually, a portion of flat, even ground. "This flowery plat, the sweet recess of Eve." (Milton) "I keep smooth plat of fruitful ground." (Tennyson) Origin: Cf. Plat flat, which perh. Caused this spelling, and Plot a piece of ground. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| platan | The plane tree. Origin: L. Platanus. See Plane the tree Alternative forms: platane. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| platanist | <zoology> The soosoo. Origin: L. Platanista a sort of fish, Gr., cf. F. Plataniste. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| platanus | <botany> A genus of trees; the plane tree. See: Plane the tree. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| plate | 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. 2. Metallic armor composed of broad pieces. "Mangled . . . Through plate and mail." (Milton) 3. Domestic vessels and utensils, as flagons, dishes, cups, etc, wrought in gold or silver. 4. Metallic ware which is plated, in distinction from that which is genuine silver or gold. 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. 6. [Cf. Sp. Plata silver] A piece of money, usually silver money. "Realms and islands were as plates dropp'd from his pocket." 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. 8. A page of stereotype, electrotype, or the like, for printing from; as, publisher's plates. 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. 10. 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. 11. A roundel of silver or tinctured argent. 12. <photography> A sheet of glass, porcelain, metal, etc, with a coating that is sensitive to light. 13. A prize giving to the winner in a contest. 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. <medicine> A wheel, the rim and hub of which are connected by a continuous plate of metal, instead of by arms or spokes. Origin: 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. See Place. 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) 3. To adorn with plated metal; as, a plated harness. 4. To beat into thin, flat pieces, or laminae. 5. To calender; as, to plate paper. Origin: Plated; Plating. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| plate of modiolus | A bony plate, the continuation of the modiolus and of the septum between the convolutions of the spiral canal of the cochlea extending upward toward the cupola, forming with the hamulus the helicotrema. Synonym: lamina modioli. (05 Mar 2000) |
| plate-gilled | <marine biology, zoology> Having flat, or leaf like, gills, as the bivalve mollusks. (19 Mar 1998) |
| plateau | A flat elevated segment of a graphic record. Origin: Fr. (05 Mar 2000) |
| plateau iris | In angle-closure glaucoma, a flat appearance of the iris rather than a forward convexity. (05 Mar 2000) |
| plateau phase | <oncology> Stable stage of disease in multiple myeloma following good response to anti-cancer treatment. (31 Dec 1997) |
| plateau pulse | A slow, sustained pulse. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Plateau, Joseph Antoine Ferdinand | <person> Belgian physicist, 1801-1883. See: Plateau-Talbot law. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Plateau-Talbot law | When successive light stimuli follow each other sufficiently rapidly to become fused, their apparent brightness is diminished. (05 Mar 2000) |
| platelet | <haematology> A discoid cell (3m diameter) found in large numbers in blood, important for blood coagulation and for haemostasis by repairing breaches (small breaks) in the walls of blood vessels. Platelet _ granules contain lysosomal enzymes, dense granules contain ADP (a potent platelet aggregating factor) and serotonin (a vasoactive amine). They also release platelet-derived growth factor which presumably contributes to later repair processes by stimulating fibroblast proliferation. Synonym: thrombocytes. (09 Oct 1997) |
| platelet activation | A series of progressive, overlapping events triggered by exposure of the platelets to subendothelial tissue. These events include shape change, adhesiveness, aggregation, and release reactions. When carried through to completion, these events lead to the formation of a stable haemostatic plug. (12 Dec 1998) |
| wall-plat | <zoology> The spotted flycatcher. It builds its nest on walls. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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