1A flat dish, typically circular and made of china, from which food is eaten or served.

1. 1.1 An amount of food on a plate.
   一盘（食物）
   a plate of spaghetti

   一盘通心面。

   Example sentencesExamples

   • A glass of Indian whisky and a plate of palak paneer - a dish of spinach and cottage cheese - are at his side. We relax under a fine crescent moon.
   • Ira glances into the kitchen where Dixie is happily preparing him a plate of tuna fish and crackers.
   • Italian and American restaurants usually serve heaping plates of food.
   • On a warm day, heaven is a bottle of chilled wine, a plate of seafood, and a table with a view.
   • I settled on a chilli-hot fish soup and a plate of grilled prawns with chilli and lime.
   • They ordered me a plate of seafood which was very nice of them, but they really shouldn't have bothered.
   • One day, Chris watched an order go out of the kitchen and it was just a plate of smoked salmon and some oysters.
   • He was given what looked like coffee by a friend, and a plate of the red meat and scrambled eggs.
   • Did I imagine the bit where sweat dripped from his jowls onto a plate of food?
   • Unsurprisingly, the classic Islay single malts are as smoky and tarry as they come, and just what a plate of haggis and neeps needs.
   • She joined her in line and they got a plate of finger foods.
   • There is a cartoon on the reception desk which depicts Santa, having come down the chimney, looking at a plate of food which has been left out for him.
   • This makes a fine, light summer lunch with a plate of Taleggio or Robbiolo cheese afterwards.
   • Not even the arrival of a plate of bresaola with Parmesan and Nunez de Prado olive oil could staunch the flow, and it was a very nice dish.
   • My belly is still in Delhi so I opt for a plate of lovely Basmati rice.
   • There, over a plate of chana dal, her faith was rewarded.
   • She orders a plate of seafood, but redeems herself by smothering everything with olive oil, and we get down to business.
   • First, the groom offers the bride a plate of mung beans (symbolizing fertility).
   • Diners are also given a plate of pork, coriander and bean sprouts to go into the pot and make the soup even more delicious.
   • A plate of bread with balsamic vinegar and olive oil helped ease the pain of a 40-minute wait for the first course, as did our bottle of decent Argentinian Malbec.

   Synonyms

   plateful, helping, portion, serving, platter
2. 1.2North American A main course of a meal, served on one plate.
   〈北美〉一道主菜
   he recommended the roast beef plate

   他推荐烤牛肉为主菜。

   Example sentencesExamples

   • As she entered the small kitchen she saw the stowaway serving plates of what looked like pasta with white sauce.
   • Shortly he arrives with the first plate, a bruschetta, which you can tell is something special before it even hits the table.
   • The promised floral decorations were absent, but we were served a buffet lunch - an unaccompanied plate of beef stroganoff served on a bed of rice.
   • About that meze plate: the requisite salads and dips here are uniformly attractive.
   • I chose a salad plate, just because dinner plates seemed really large.
   • Modern delicacies like rocket salad and plates of sushi are delightful and delicious.
   • Luscious pan-broiled beef shares the plate with a great date of Cabernet-braised short ribs.
   • I had the maki appetizer with the salmon as my main course, while my friend went for the salad and the sushi plate.
   • They ate their lunch, which consisted of roast beef sandwiches, salad, a fruit plate, and breadsticks.
   • From salads to vegetable plates, the Cafe serves up fresh food from local farms Monday through Saturday from 9 am to 3 pm.
   • Vykal was early but there were a few meal plates that were already prepared.
   • A great Kyrgyz delicacy reserved especially for guests is a combination plate of fresh sliced sheep liver and slices of sheep tail fat.
   • Pairing pasty quince pancakes with the fat-rich confit turns the plate monotonous halfway through.
3. 1.3Australian, NZ A plate of food contributed by a guest to a social gathering.
   〈澳／新西兰〉（客人为社交聚会带去的）一盘（助兴）菜
   he was invited to a party and asked to bring a plate

   他被邀请参加聚会，并要带一盘菜前往。

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Guests should bring a plate of food and something to sit on.
   • Tickets can be purchased from the school and families are asked to bring a plate to share for supper.
   • She was outraged because she was asked to bring a plate, emphasising to me.
   • To avoid the hefty workload, ask each guest to bring a plate of food.
   • The ladies put on bacon and egg muffins, a neighbour supplies the tea and coffee and everyone else brings a plate.
4. 1.4 A flat dish, typically made of metal or wood, passed round a church congregation in order to collect donations of money.
   （常用金属或木头做成的在教堂集会中传递以募集捐款的）奉献盘，捐款盘
   they brought round the collection plates

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Jill plays his fetching daughter in charge of passing the collection plate.
   • A collection plate will also be making the rounds during the show, which starts at 1: 30 pm.
   • The collection plate at the church reportedly brought in $100,000 a month.
   • A collection plate will also be passed around at the mass.
   • Still, if the church is getting some extra money in the plate, I doubt they mind.
   • The money we put in the offering plate enables companion churches to do ministry.
   • The Hon Rev F J Nile and The Hon G Moyes refrained from passing round the plate for tithes.
   • The ushers could start the collection at the back, passing the plates and moving forward.
   • All churches had a collection plate for anyone who wished to help through this devastating time. These vicars have always been there in time of joy and at times of grief but we take them for granted.
   • She said the funeral was due to take place at 1pm next Wednesday at Pocklington Church, with a plate collection for Leeds General Infirmary.
   • At the same time bible-based cults may ridicule churches that take up free-will offerings by passing collection plates and/or sell literature and tapes.
   • You use your website as both a church and a collection plate.
   • Congregations in two Yorkshire dioceses have turned out to be among the most generous in the country when it comes to putting money on the plate at Anglican churches.
   • The logic of that is that inside the church the collection plate should avoid visitors.

   Synonyms

   platter, dish, tray
5. 1.5Biology A shallow glass dish on which a culture of cells or microorganisms may be grown.
   〔生〕培养皿，平皿，平碟
   a tissue culture plate

   Example sentencesExamples

   • The test was performed in 96-well cell culture plates.
   • The microscope first focuses on an internal reference point within the tissue culture plate containing the cells.
   • They have been selected from hundreds of specimens that are grown in the culture plates that fill the lab's shelves.
   • As previously described, duplicate plates and nitrocellulose lifts were used to sort the colonies until an individual colony was isolated.
   • Cells were seeded onto six-well culture plates and allowed to grow to form confluent monolayers.
   • The tested yeast cultures were grown on plates with complete medium for 1 day.

2mass noun Dishes, bowls, cups, and other utensils made of gold, silver, or other metal.

1. 2.1count noun A silver or gold dish or trophy awarded as a prize in a race or competition.
   （银质或金质）奖杯，奖牌
   she lifted the plate in victory

   在胜利中她举起了奖杯。

   Example sentencesExamples

   • The side put an end to the Kiwis' winning ways in Australia, however, when they won the Cup final, having previously lifted the Plate in Wellington.
   • As customary they will both get their names on the monthly medal board and be eligible for the Gold final, but Terry won the plate on a count back.
   • Unfortunately, none of the Pritchard family members seemed to know exactly what had happened to the framed metal plate.
   • After winning the Plate three weeks later, Melnyk dramatically increased his commitment to the game to the point where he is a player at the sport's highest level.
   • On closer examination, it appeared to be an award - the year 1997 was inscribed on a metal plate set at its base.
2. 2.2in names A race or competition in which a silver or gold dish or trophy is awarded.
   杯赛
   the final of the Ladies' Plate at Henley

   在亨里举行的女子杯决赛。

   Example sentencesExamples

   • His victory in the most recent plate race is a sterling example.
   • Sixteen teams will compete in the group stages on Saturday, with the bowl, plate and finals to take place the following day.
   • To their surprise the team won the plate award and now proudly possess their first trophy.
   • Hounslow's Rhenu Khuttan won the girls badminton plate competition and Sandeep Gupta was narrowly defeated in the boys quarter-finals.
   • Naas now go forward to play in the plate competition, the final of which they reached two seasons ago with this team, narrowly losing on that occasion to Skerries.

3A thin, flat sheet or strip of metal or other material, typically one used to join or strengthen things or forming part of a machine.

他做了一个外科手术，在腿内安了一块钢板。

1. 3.1 A small, flat piece of metal or other material bearing a name or inscription and attached to a door or other object.
   （附着在门或其他物体上带有名字或题字的）牌
   a discreet brass plate announced William Marsden, RA

   一块不显眼的铜质门牌上面写着“皇家艺术院会员威廉·马斯登”。

   Example sentencesExamples

   • At the far end of the courtyard is a red door with a glass window and, on a wall to one side, is a brass plate announcing the department in a clearer and more elegant fashion.
   • The first thing in view was the old, rusty, metal plate saying ‘Clenverry station’.
   • I also had my own stall now with a brass plate on the stall door with my name.
   • Engraved on a metal plate next to the door was the name Entertainment Room.
   • They walked back to the simple metal plate set in the ground.
   • Not far from the stairs they stopped in front of a wooden door with Sania's initials on a metal plate.
   • It is a brass plate inscribed with the name of a passenger on the ship, Colonel Edward James.
   • One of those artefacts was a pewter plate inscribed with the name Matute.
   • Inside the coffin was a brass plate inscribed, ‘Founder of Adelaide’.
   • The only thing that distinguished it from the rest was that there was a different number on the steel plate attached to the door.
   • Every tree will have a metal plate with its number so owners can identify it.
   • John Lowing, of Southend, stood beside one of the company's latest trains as the plate bearing his name on the carriage side was unveiled.
   • The Stations of the Cross cost £55 each and all donated by donors whose names are recorded on the brass plate.
   • To begin with, they are now planning to unveil a memorial plate with 460 names on it.
   • The walkways were tiled in red brick with names of contributors to numerous local charities in a brass plate screwed into the top.
   • It is hoped that the plate, bearing the name Conyngham Hall, could fetch up to £10,000 when sold later this year.
   • Every tree will have a metal plate with its reference number so it can be identified.
   • A plate on the door announced that Headmaster Denton resided behind these doors.
   • I untied the red bandana from his neck and replaced it with the worn leather collar that had its name engraved in a brass plate should the hound ever get lost.
   • The commercial department is seeking a sponsor for the plate and the cost is £200 plus VAT.

   Synonyms

   plaque, nameplate, door plate, tablet, sign, brass, medallion, plaquette, cartouche
2. 3.2
   the car had German plates

   short for number plate

   Example sentencesExamples

   • The couple believe the vandals knew their identity, even though the couple's car had Irish plates.
   • By December 1, 2005, all trucks and trailers of more than 10 tons must also have new plates and registration documents.
   • Even having to make the two-hour drive to these cities for the yearly examination is well worth the trouble because of the savings made on the cost of the plate.
   • You can only have a plate which is the same age as or older than the car.
   • It is thought another motorist has cloned the plate to try to escape the £5-a-day congestion charge.
3. 3.3Baseball
   short for home plate

   Example sentencesExamples

   • The Sox came up with one in the bottom of the inning and Passeau was still going strong when we came to the plate in the eleventh inning.
   • Manny Ramirez comes to bat and lines a pitch on the outside part of the plate to right field for a single.
   • Lamb is not a strong defensive player, so he has to be productive at the plate to contribute significantly.
   • After the Yankees put two men on base to start their half of the sixth inning, Yogi Berra came strolling to the plate.
   • When Giusti fired his next palmball over the plate, Powell decided to take a rip.
4. 3.4 A horizontal timber laid along the top of a wall to support the ends of joists or rafters.
   横木
   Example sentencesExamples

   • Screw the plate rails to the wall, leaving 12 inches between each rail.
   • Alternatively, the insulation can be fastened to the sill plate and draped down the wall.
   • It works best if two people can nail - one at the top plate and one at the bottom plate - to prevent the wall from jumping around.
   • You can cover their plates by tucking the wallpaper into the wall and replacing the cover.
   • If your building perpendicular to an existing wall, lay the 2x4 plates next to each other and flush the ends.
   • It was Dr. Lawless's evidence that he does not know whether it was at that time that he mentioned the cutting of the support plates from the beams.
   • The mounting plate of the brace is attached to the masonry and a backing plate with wall ties.
   • Insulation blown into your ceiling cavities should cover the top plate of the wall, but be sure the eave vents are not covered.
   • The plate further includes a horizontal reference line that intersects the reference center point.
   • The space between floors, the sub-floor, rim joist, and plates is also sealed.
   • Place them with your wall top plates to do the wall layout.
   • The slab is designed as a continuous plate supported by the floor beams and edge girders.
   • Side walls and wainscotting plates and accessories such as moldings, cornices, coves and miters are also available.
5. 3.5 A light horseshoe for a racehorse.
   （赛马的）轻型马蹄铁
   Example sentencesExamples

   • 99% of forelimb horseshoes were aluminum racing plates, 35% had a pad, 23% had a rim, and 8% had a heel.
   • The practice of nailing iron plates or rim-shoes to the hoof does not appear to have been introduced earlier than the 2nd century B.C.

4Zoology Botany
A thin, flat organic structure or formation.

结合为一块的骨板保护着乌龟的软体器官。

5Geology
Each of the several rigid pieces of the earth's lithosphere which together make up the earth's surface.

6A sheet of metal, plastic, or other material bearing an image of type or illustrations from which multiple copies are printed.

1. 6.1 A printed photograph, picture, or illustration, especially one on superior-quality paper in a book.
   （尤指书中在较高质量纸张上印制的）照片；图画；插图
   the book contains sixty colour plates

   Example sentencesExamples

   • The book contains 53 plates, reproductions of his watercolor paintings from the places he visited.
   • After the lead-in, the rest of the book consists of colour plates with extended captions that are as interesting as the photographs themselves.
   • The black and white illustrated plates are impressive and provide adequate detail for field identification and taxonomical purposes.
   • Twenty six plates containing 104 coloured photographs relevant to the text are clear and of good quality which will be useful in diagnosis of various STDs.
   • The books contain 606 plates illustrating 92 percent of the 1189 taxa in the keys.
   • All the way through the book there are also some photographic plates from many years ago, showing the costumes of those days, and how the tradition has been maintained.
   • She does reproduce some of his more subversive etchings, although as plates, rather than prints.
   • Build a theme around the picture or print on the plates and paper goods.
   • The gap junction can be seen in the introductory plates of this book.
   • However, it does contain excellent photographs in full-colour plates for some of these species.
   • The book's 395 plates include a wide variety of contemporary depictions of events.
   • In combination with sixteen plates of illustration he constructs a picture of the rhetorical power of the pope's body in the period, both as fleshly entity and as rhetorical metaphor.
   • The book is fully illustrated with 30 colour plates, over 350 black and white photographs and illustrations, and eight plans.
   • My only criticism would be the incongruousness between references to colour plates and their placement in the book.
   • The book has nearly 450 fine colour plates and will be indispensable for researchers, scientists, bird-watchers and nature lovers.
   • In Cornell's library are her watercolor sketches for the 13 remarkable plates that illustrated the book that changed chemistry.
   • The book includes 35 full-color plates of the latest artwork by Filgate, as well as 14 drawings.
   • Brown argues his points with excellent colour plates and black and white prints, but I found his semiotic approach to reviewing the literature difficult.
   • Vaillant also reproduced his own pictures and some plates are original designs of his own invention: a portrait of his family and two nocturnal landscapes.
   • Certain of the artist's plates, pictures and engravings had been sold in 1858 for £2,500.

   Synonyms

   picture, print, illustration, photograph, photo, engraving, lithograph

   rare vignette
2. 6.2 A thin sheet of metal, glass, or other substance coated with a light-sensitive film on which an image is formed, used in larger or older types of camera.
   （用于大型或旧式照相机的）感光板
   Example sentencesExamples

   • He was able to get quality source images under harrowing circumstances where most of us would scarcely be capable of operating a camera, let alone a cumbersome plate camera on a tripod.
   • Since the daguerreotype plate negative was transformed into the final, fixed image, like a painting, it was unique and irreplaceable.
   • Yet he was amazed to discover that photographic plates wrapped in black paper became imprinted with images of the uranium salt scattered over them when they had been kept for several days in a dark drawer.
   • The print is produced by pressing a dampened paper against the plate.
   • Not even the camera and its glass plate photography could compare with Holmes's panoramas drawn with such meticulous detail.
   • This is one of the earliest forms of photography, using glass plates and light-sensitive paper.
   • I was brought up when photographic film and especially plates were far too expensive to waste, and when the photographer worked hard to set up and capture a shot with the minimum of exposures.
   • Unfortunately neither individual waited as I prepared my cumbersome glass plates, so the photo is somewhat lacking.
   • Roentgen also established the use of photographic plates as a way to take pictures of mysterious rays.
   • Her most recent work was photographed with the antiquated collodion process using glass plates.
   • He replaced them with the brand new plates, then placed all of the loaded plates into his camera.
   • Although not trained in astronomy, she quickly showed a unique proficiency in analyzing photographic plates.
   • If it were not for George Eastman, we would probably still be hiding under black cloths while putting sensitized glass plates into the back of our rosewood cameras.
   • Against moonlight on the back of my windows, as on photographic plates, appear the silhouettes of salamanders, perhaps a dozen of them, facing this way and that.
   • Many of the images are stored on the archive on the original glass plate films they were developed on.
   • Such waves can hit a receiver, say a photographic plate, and produce an image of the celestial object.
   • Some of these were made not simply without lenses but without a camera at all - rather by the direct manipulation of photographic plates.
   • While at the Observatory he worked on ways to determine the apparent brightness of stars using photographic plates: -
   • While getting flash heads ready and the 5x4 plate camera focused, I had the lights under the glass going.
   • A hologram is a photographic plate on which information is recorded as a series of density variations.

7A thin piece of plastic moulded to the shape of a person's mouth and gums, to which artificial teeth or another orthodontic appliance are attached.

1. 7.1informal A complete denture or orthodontic appliance.
   〈非正式〉全口假牙
   Example sentencesExamples

   • My plates are 10 years old and I still have to pry the top plate out every day to remove them, the fit is that good.
   • When I was done, my speech was normal, and my plates did not pop out.
   • The Buttershaw High School pupil spent nearly two months in hospital and now has wires in his ankle, plates and screws in his upper legs and a plate in his mouth.

8A thin piece of metal that acts as an electrode in a capacitor, battery, or cell.

1. 8.1North American The anode of a thermionic valve.
   〈北美〉阳极
   Example sentencesExamples

   • The result is a flow of electrons from filament to plate.
   • Since the flow of electrons from filament to anode or plate can be varied by applying potential variations to the grid, the circuit in which this tube is used consists of two branches.

1Cover (a metal object) with a thin coating of a different metal.

1. 1.1 Cover (an object) with plates of metal for decoration, protection, or strength.
   （为装饰、保护、加固）给…装上钢板；给…加上装甲
   the ship is plated in the bows with steel eighteen millimetres thick

   Example sentencesExamples

   • After electroplating, plated parts are transferred from the plating barrel to coating centers (perforated baskets) located under the electroplating system.
   • These chemicals may then plate the metal instruments, the pan, and the sterilizer walls.
   • Manganese and silicon may be present as impurities in the remelt; chromium and nickel are often seen when plated scrap is remelted.
   • Some knights were cited as wearing mail gloves under their plated gauntlets for added strength.
   • The ball was very hard for it was plated in a very thin layer of metal.
   • Two large ships, plated with the same grey metal, lay at anchor inside the calm area behind the massive breakwater defences, while others listed and rolled in the water, on the verge of capsizing.
   • His copy was plated in nickel, with a long smoke-like design of inlaid onyx along the right side of the barrel, and a carved wooden grip.
   • Current practice calls for the parts to be plated with zinc, and then dipped in a chromic acid solution.
   • The cartridge anodes are preferably plated with a mixed metal oxide such as iridium oxide and ruthenium oxide to catalytically improve the production of oxygen.
   • The volume was plated with a thin layer of beaten gold, and a row of high-quality garnets traced up its spine.
   • The bow was plated with metal so it could handle that, but the ship had never been designed as an icebreaker.
   • A couple of fire escapes and metal plated doors pocked the otherwise blank wall.
   • These include royal standards in the form of animal figures plated in precious metals, and a range of weapons, jewellery, and vessels in precious metal.
   • It was the same as all the others, except for the metal numbers plated in the upper part.
   • The entire heatsink is plated in silver, and it looks absolutely stunning.

   Synonyms

   cover, coat, overlay, laminate, veneer

   electroplate, anodize, galvanize, gild, platinize, silver, tin, nickel

2Serve or arrange (food) on a plate or plates.

煮得过火的蔬菜无论如何摆盘看起来都让人没胃口。

3Baseball
Score or cause to score (a run or runs)

4Biology
Inoculate (cells or infective material) on to a culture plate, especially with the object of isolating a particular strain of microorganisms or estimating viable cell numbers.