Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The roller in a typewriter that serves as the backing for the paper against which the type bars strike.
  • noun The roller in a printer against which the print head strikes.
  • noun A flat plate or rolling cylinder in a printing press that positions the paper and holds it against the inked type.
  • noun The glass surface of a flatbed scanner.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An alloy used in making buttons, composed of eight parts of copper and five parts of zinc.
  • noun The feed-roll of a typewriter against which the paper rests while receiving an impression.
  • noun The table of a machine-tool to which the piece to be cut is fastened.
  • noun In printing, the flat part of a press which comes down upon the form, and by which the impression is made

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The part of a printing press which presses the paper against the type and by which the impression is made.
  • noun Hence, an analogous part of a typewriter, on which the paper rests to receive an impression.
  • noun The movable table of a machine tool, as a planer, on which the work is fastened, and presented to the action of the tool; -- also called table.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The part of a printing press which presses the paper against the type and by which the impression is made.
  • noun The part of a typewriter or printer on which the paper rests to receive an impression.
  • noun The movable table of a planer or other machine tool, on which the work is fastened, and presented to the action of the tool.
  • noun The flat glass surface of a scanner or photocopier on which operators place items to be scanned.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the roller on a typewriter against which the keys strike
  • noun work table of a machine tool
  • noun the flat plate of a printing press that presses the paper against the type

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English plateine, paten, from Old French platine, metal plate, from plat, flat; see plate.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

French platine, from plat flat. See plate, and compare platin.

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