| plain | To lament; to bewail; to complain. "We with piteous heart unto you pleyne." (Chaucer) Origin: OE. Playne, pleyne, fr. F. Plaindre. See Plaint. 1. Without elevations or depressions; flat; level; smooth; even. See Plane. "The crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain." (Isa. Xl. 4) 2. Open; clear; unencumbered; equal; fair. "Our troops beat an army in plain fight." (Felton) 3. Not intricate or difficult; evident; manifest; obvious; clear; unmistakable. "'T is a plain case." 4. Void of extraneous beauty or ornament; without conspicious embellishment; not rich; simple. Not highly cultivated; unsophisticated; free from show or pretension; simple; natural; homely; common. "Plain yet pious Christians." . "The plain people." . Free from affectation or disguise; candid; sincere; artless; honest; frank. "An honest mind, and plain." Not luxurious; not highly seasoned; simple; as, plain food. Without beauty; not handsome; homely; as, a plain woman. Not variegated, dyed, or figured; as, plain muslin. Not much varied by modulations; as, a plain tune. Plain battle, open battle; pitched battle. Plain chant, molding of which the surfaces are plain figures. Plain sewing, sewing of seams by simple and common stitches, in distinct from fancy work, embroidery, etc.; distinguished also from designing and fitting garments. Plain song. The Gregorian chant, or canto fermo; the prescribed melody of the Roman Catholic service, sung in unison, in tones of equal length, and rarely extending beyond the compass of an octave. A simple melody. Plain speaking, plainness or bluntness of speech. Synonym: Level, flat, smooth, open, artless, unaffected, undisguised, frank, sincere, honest, candid, ingenuous, unembellished, downright, blunt, clear, simple, distinct, manifest, obvious, apparent. See Manifest. Origin: F, level, flat, fr. L. Planus, perhaps akin to E. Floor. Cf. Llano, Piano, Plan, Plane level, a level surface. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| plain film | A radiograph made without use of a contrast medium. (05 Mar 2000) |
| plain-hearted | Frank; sincere; artless. Plain"-heartedness. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| belt | To encircle with, or as with, a belt; to encompass; to surround. "A coarse black robe belted round the waist." (C. Reade) "They belt him round with hearts undaunted." (Wordsworth) 2. To shear, as the buttocks and tails of sheep. Origin: Belted; Belting. 1. That which engirdles a person or thing; a band or girdle; as, a lady's belt; a sword belt. "The shining belt with gold inlaid." (Dryden) 2. That which restrains or confines as a girdle. "He cannot buckle his distempered cause Within the belt of rule." (Shak) 3. Anything that resembles a belt, or that encircles or crosses like a belt; a strip or stripe; as, a belt of trees; a belt of sand. 4. Same as Band. A very broad band is more properly termed a belt. 5. <astronomy> One of certain girdles or zones on the surface of the planets Jupiter and Saturn, supposed to be of the nature of clouds. 6. <geography> A narrow passage or strait; as, the Great Belt and the Lesser Belt, leading to the Baltic Sea. 7. A token or badge of knightly rank. 8. <mechanics> A band of leather, or other flexible substance, passing around two wheels, and communicating motion from one to the other. 9. A band or stripe, as of colour, round any organ; or any circular ridge or series of ridges. Belt lacing, thongs used for lacing together the ends of machine belting. See: Illust. Of Pulley. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| belt desmosome | <cell biology> Another name for the zonula adherens or adherens junction (18 Nov 1997) |
| belt test | An obsolete test: firm upward pressure on the lower part of the abdomen will remove the feeling of discomfort in cases of enteroptosia. (05 Mar 2000) |
| life-belt cataract | Congenital cataract in which a central white membrane replaces the nucleus. Synonym: disk-shaped cataract, life-belt cataract, umbilicated cataract. (05 Mar 2000) |