plate

noun

/pleɪt/

Idioms

food食物

enlarge image

[countable] a flat, usually round, dish that you put food on盘子；碟子

sandwiches on a plate盘子上的三明治
There was an enormous pile of dirty plates in the kitchen sink.厨房水槽里有一大堆脏盘子。
The set includes four dinner plates, four side plates and four soup bowls.这一套包括四只餐盘、四只小吃盘和四只汤碗。
They filled their plates with spaghetti.他们在盘子里装满了意大利面条。

for strength强化用

[countable] a thin flat piece of metal, used especially to join or make something stronger（金属）板条，板

The tanks were mainly constructed of steel plates.这些坦克车主要是用钢板制造的。
She had a metal plate inserted in her arm.她的胳膊里嵌着一块接骨板。

for information提供信息

[countable] a flat piece of metal with some information on it, for example somebody’s name（刻有名字等的）金属牌子

A brass plate beside the door said ‘Dr Alan Tate’.门旁的铜牌上写着 “艾伦 · 泰特医生”。

on vehicle车辆上

[usually plural] the pieces of metal or plastic at the front and back of a vehicle with numbers and letters on it（车辆）牌照，号牌；车牌 see also GB plate, L-plate, license plate, number plate, vanity plate

Collocations Dictionaryadjective

licence/license
number
name
…

silver/gold银；金

[uncountable] ordinary metal that is covered with a thin layer of silver or gold镀金（或镀银）的金属

The cutlery is plate, not solid silver.这套餐具是镀银的，不是纯银的。

see also gold plate, silver plate, tinplate

[uncountable] dishes, bowls, etc. that are made of silver or gold金质（或银质）餐具

the family plate家庭盘子

on animal动物

[countable] (biology生物) one of the thin flat pieces of horn or bone that cover and protect an animal板；骨板

the armadillo’s protective shell of bony plates犰狳的一层防护性骨板

geology地质学

[countable] one of the very large pieces of rock that form the earth’s surface and move slowly板块

the Pacific plate太平洋板块
Earthquakes are caused by two tectonic plates bumping into each other.地震是由两块地壳构造板块互相碰撞造成的。

printing/photography印刷；摄影

[countable] a photograph that is used as a picture in a book, especially one that is printed on a separate page on high quality paper书籍插图照片；（尤指优质纸上的）整页插图

The book includes 55 colour plates.本书有 55 幅彩色插图。
See plate 4.见彩图 4。
She looked like a fashion plate.她看起来像一张时装样片。

[countable] a sheet of metal, plastic, etc. that has been treated so that words or pictures can be printed from it（印刷用的）印版，图版

a printing plate印版

[countable] a thin sheet of glass, metal, etc. that is covered with chemicals so that it reacts to light and can form an image, used in larger or older cameras（玻璃、金属等）底片，感光板

in mouth口内

[countable] a thin piece of plastic with wire or artificial teeth attached to it which fits inside your mouth in order to make your teeth straight假牙托；托牙板；假牙床 compare brace, dentures

in baseball棒球

(North American English)

(also home plate, home base ())

[singular] (in baseball

棒球

) the place where the person hitting the ball stands and where they must return to after running around all the bases本垒板；本垒

in church教堂

(usually the plate)

[singular] a flat dish that is used to collect money from people in a church奉献盘；捐款盘

see also bookplate, breastplate, footplate, hotplate

词源Middle English (denoting a flat, thin sheet, usually of metal): from Old French, from medieval Latin plata ‘plate armour’, based on Greek platus ‘flat’. Senses (1) to (3) represent Old French plat ‘platter, large dish’, also ‘dish of meat’, noun use of Old French plat ‘flat’.

Idioms

hand something to somebody on a plate

(informal) to give something to somebody without that person making any effort把某事物拱手送给某人
- Nobody's going to hand you success on a plate.没有人会把胜利白白地送给你的。

have enough/a lot/too much on your plate

(informal) to have a lot of work or problems, etc. to deal with问题（或工作等）成堆

step up to the plate

(especially North American English) to do what is necessary in order to benefit from an opportunity or deal with a crisis开始行动，采取措施（以抓住机会或应对危机）
- It's important for world leaders to step up to the plate and honor their commitments on global warming.对世界领导人来说，重要的是开始行动，兑现他们在全球变暖问题上的承诺。
- It’s time for businesses to step up to the plate and accept responsibility.现在是企业站出来承担责任的时候了。