PLANE


Meaning of PLANE in English

I. ˈplān verb

( -ed/-ing/-s )

Etymology: Middle English planen, from Middle French planer, from Late Latin planare to make flat, level, from Latin planus flat, level — more at floor

transitive verb

1. : to make smooth or even : level

what student came but that you planed her path — Alfred Tennyson

2. : to produce a plane surface on by the use of a planer

3. : to remove by or as if by planing

the mountainside had come away bodily, planed clean — Rudyard Kipling

intransitive verb

1.

a. : to work with a plane

b. : to do the work of a plane

2. : to extend in a smooth or level line without elevations or depressions

mellow farmlands plane to the water's edge — American Guide Series: Vermont

this sea that planed away in all directions — T.O.Heggen

II. noun

or plane tree

( -s )

Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin platanus, from Greek platanos; akin to Greek platys broad — more at place

: a tree of the genus Platanus

III. noun

( -s )

Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French, from Late Latin plana, from planare to make level

: a tool for smoothing or shaping a surface of wood that consists of a smooth-soled stock as of wood or iron from the face of which projects slightly the steel cutting edge of a chisel set at an angle to the face with an aperture in the front for the escape of shavings — see beading plane , bench plane , block plane , bullnosed plane , chamfer plane , circular plane , combination plane , dado plane , dovetail plane , fore plane , jack plane , jointer plane , match plane , rabbet plane , router plane , scrub plane , smoothing plane

[s]plane.jpg[/s]

IV. noun

( -s )

Etymology: Latin planum level surface, from neuter of planus level, flat

1.

a.

(1) : a surface such that the straight line that joins any two of its points lies wholly in that surface : a two-dimensional extent of zero curvature : a surface any intersection of which by a like surface is a straight line

(2) : the graph of a linear equation in three dimensions

b.

(1) : a flat or level material surface

an inclined plane

the faults have tilted a plane to the west — Journal of Geology

(2) : facet

the evening sunlight had begun to turn the smooth planes of the prickly pears into trembling mirrors — Michael Swan

c. : an imaginary plane surface used to identify the position of a bodily organ or a part of the skull

alveolocondylean plane

d. : surface plate

e. : an inclined track (as in a coal mine) over which transportation of a string of cars or a train is effected by gravity or by external power (as by a stationary engine)

2.

a. : a level of existence, consciousness, or development

moved on a plane of excited worldliness — H.S.Canby

keep the conversation on an amicable plane — P.G.Wodehouse

on the intellectual plane

on the religious plane

b. : any of the seven theosophical stages or states of manifestation of being : a sphere of existence in theosophy

c. : a stage in surgical anesthesia

the patient can be brought into the second plane of anesthesia in another location — Journal American Medical Association

3.

a. : one of the main supporting surfaces of an airplane

a low-wing, all-metal single- plane craft — Science News Letter

bi plane

b.

[by shortening]

: airplane

jet plane

transport plane

c. : diving plane

V. adjective

Etymology: Latin planus flat, level — more at floor

1. : having no elevations or depressions : forming part of a plane : flat , level

a plane surface

2.

a. : of, relating to, or dealing with planes or two-dimensional figures only

b. : lying in a plane

a plane curve

Synonyms: see level

VI. intransitive verb

( -ed/-ing/-s )

Etymology: French planer, from plan plane, from Latin planum level surface; from the level surface formed by the wings of a soaring bird

1.

a. : to soar on or as if on wings

watching a gull plane down in circles without moving a wing — G.W.Brace

a great morpho butterfly leisurely planing along — H.M.Tomlinson

b.

(1) of a seaplane : to move through the water at such a speed as to be supported by hydrodynamic and aerodynamic rather than by hydrostatic forces

(2) of a boat : to skim across the surface of the water : lift partly out of the water while in motion

these craft, when they reach a certain speed, plane on the flat after sections of their hull — Peter Heaton

c. : to move downward as if on an inclined plane : glide

planed down toward it and in a few moments could make out that it was a ship — J.H.Marsh

were pulling her stern first to keep her from diving and planing to the bottom — N.C.McDonald

2.

[ plane (IV) (airplane)]

: to travel by airplane

had planed, trained and driven fifteen hundred miles — Paul Gallico

3. of a submarine : to move from one level to another

ordered me to plane upward two feet, to allow him to raise the periscope that much higher out of the water and thus see a little farther — E.L.Beach

Webster's New International English Dictionary.      Новый международный словарь английского языка Webster.