(~s)
Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.
1.
A ~ is a round or oval flat dish that is used to hold food.
Anita pushed her ~ away; she had eaten virtually nothing.
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•
A ~ of food is the amount of food on the ~.
...a huge ~ of bacon and eggs.
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2.
A ~ is a flat piece of metal, especially on machinery or a building.
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3.
A ~ is a small, flat piece of metal with someone’s name written on it, which you usually find beside the front door of an office or house.
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4.
On a road vehicle, the ~s are the panels at the front and back which display the license number in the United States, and the registration number in Britain.
...dusty-looking cars with New Jersey ~s.
N-PLURAL
see also number ~ , license ~
5.
Plate is dishes, bowls, and cups that are made of precious metal, especially silver or gold.
...gold and silver ~, jewellery, and roomfuls of antique furniture.
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6.
A ~ in a book is a picture or photograph which takes up a whole page and is usually printed on better quality paper than the rest of the book.
Fermor’s book has 55 colour ~s.
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7.
In geology, a ~ is a large piece of the earth’s surface, perhaps as large as a continent, which moves very slowly. (TECHNICAL)
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8.
If you have enough on your ~ or have a lot on your ~, you have a lot of work to do or a lot of things to deal with.
We have enough on our ~. There is plenty of work to be done on what we have.
PHRASE: V inflects
9.
If you say that someone has things handed to them on a ~, you disapprove of them because they get good things easily. (mainly BRIT)
Even the presidency was handed to him on a ~.
PHRASE: V inflects disapproval