| 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) |
| plaintiff | One who commences a personal action or suit to obtain a remedy for an injury to his rights; opposed to defendant. Origin: F. Plaintif making complaint, plaintive; in Old French equiv. To plaignant complainant, prosecutor, fr. Plaindre. See Plaint, and cf. Plaintive. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| plaise | <zoology> See Plaice. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| plait | 1. A flat fold; a doubling, as of cloth; a pleat; as, a box plait. "The plaits and foldings of the drapery." (Addison) 2. A braid, as of hair or straw; a plat. Polish plait. <medicine> Same as Plica. Origin: OE. Playte, OF. Pleit, L. Plicatum, plicitum, p.p. Of plicare to fold, akin to plectere to plait. See Ply, and cf. Plat to weave, Pleat, Plight fold. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| plakalbumin | <protein> Fragment of ovalbumin produced by subtilisin cleavage: more soluble than ovalbumin itself. (18 Nov 1997) |
| plakins | Bactericidal substances similar to leucins extracted from blood platelets. Origin: G. Plax, plakos, anything flat, + -in (05 Mar 2000) |
| plakoglobin | <protein> Polypeptide (83 kD) present at cell cell but not cell substratum contacts. Associated with desmosomes and with adherens junctions: soluble 7S form present in cytoplasm. (18 Nov 1997) |
| plan | 1. A draught or form; properly, a representation drawn on a plane, as a map or a chart; especially, a top view, as of a machine, or the representation or delineation of a horizontal section of anything, as of a building; a graphic representation; a diagram. 2. A scheme devised; a method of action or procedure expressed or described in language; a project; as, the plan of a constitution; the plan of an expedition. "God's plans like lines pure and white unfold." (M. R. Smith) 3. A method; a way of procedure; a custom. "The simple plan, That they should take who have the power, And they should keep who can." (Wordsworth) Body plan, Floor plan, etc. See Body, Floor, etc. Synonym: Scheme, draught, delineation, plot, sketch, project, design, contrivance, device. See Scheme. Origin: F, fr. L. Planus flat, level. See Plain. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| plan apochromatic objective lens | <physics> A modern, high-numerical aperture microscope objective lens designed with high degrees of corrections for various aberrations. It is corrected for spherical aberration in four wavelengths (dark blue, blue, green, and red), for chromatic aberration in more than these four wavelengths, and for flatness of field. A single Plan Apo objective may contain as many as 11 lens elements. (05 Aug 1998) |
| plana | Plural of planum. Origin: L. (05 Mar 2000) |
| planaria | Origin: NL. See Planary. <zoology> Any species of turbellarian worms belonging to Planaria, and many allied genera. The body is usually flat, thin, and smooth. Some species, in warm countries, are terrestrial. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| planarian | <zoology> One of the Planarida, or Dendrocoela; any turbellarian worm. Plana"rian. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| planarians | Nonparasitic free-living flatworms of the class turbellaria. The most common genera are dugesia, formerly planaria, which lives in water, and bipalium, which lives on land. Geoplana occurs in south america and california. (12 Dec 1998) |