Chapter 44

Plant, v. i. To perform the act of planting.

I have planted; Apollos watered.

1 Cor. iii. 6.

Plant"a*ble (?), a. Capable of being planted; fit to be planted. B. Edwards.

Plant"age (?), n. A word used once by Shakespeare to designate plants in general, or anything that is planted.

As true as steel, as plantage to the moon.

Shak. (Troil. iii. sc. 2).

Plan"tain (?), n. [Cf. F. plantain- arbre, plantanier, Sp. pl·ntano, pl·tano; prob. same word as plane tree.] 1. (Bot.) A treelike perennial herb (Musa paradisiaca) of tropical regions, bearing immense leaves and large clusters of the fruits called plantains. See Musa.

2. The fruit of this plant. It is long and somewhat cylindrical, slightly curved, and, when ripe, soft, fleshy, and covered with a thick but tender yellowish skin. The plantain is a staple article of food in most tropical countries, especially when cooked.

Plantain cutter, or Plantain eater (Zoˆl.), any one of several large African birds of the genus Musophaga, or family MusophagidÊ, especially Musophaga violacea. See Turaco. They are allied to the cuckoos. -- Plantain squirrel (Zoˆl.), a Java squirrel (Sciurus plantani) which feeds upon plantains. -- Plantain tree (Bot.), the treelike herb Musa paradisiaca. See def. 1 (above).

Plan"tain, n. [F., fr. L. plantago. Cf. Plant.] (Bot.) Any plant of the genus Plantago, but especially the P. major, a low herb with broad spreading radical leaves, and slender spikes of minute flowers. It is a native of Europe, but now found near the abode of civilized man in nearly all parts of the world.

Indian plantain. (Bot.) See under Indian. -- Mud plantain, a homely North American aquatic plant (Heteranthera reniformis), having broad, reniform leaves. -- Rattlesnake plantain, an orchidaceous plant (Goodyera pubescens), with the leaves blotched and spotted with white. -- Ribwort plantain. See Ribwort. -- Robin's plantain, the Erigeron bellidifolium, a common daisylike plant of North America. -- Water plantain, a plant of the genus Alisma, having acrid leaves, and formerly regarded as a specific against hydrophobia. Loudon.

Plant"al (?), a. [L. planta a plant.] Belonging to plants; as, plantal life. [Obs.] Dr. H. More.

Plan"tar (?), a. [L. plantaris, fr. planta the sole of the foot.] (Anat.) Of or pertaining to the sole of the foot; as, the plantar arteries.

Plan*ta"tion (?), n. [L. plantatio: cf. F. plantation.] 1. The act or practice of planting, or setting in the earth for growth. [R.]

2. The place planted; land brought under cultivation; a piece of ground planted with trees or useful plants; esp., in the United States and West Indies, a large estate appropriated to the production of the more important crops, and cultivated by laborers who live on the estate; as, a cotton plantation; a coffee plantation.

3. An original settlement in a new country; a colony.

While these plantations were forming in Connecticut.

B. Trumbull.

Plant"-cane` (?), n. A stalk or shoot of sugar cane of the first growth from the cutting. The growth of the second and following years is of inferior quality, and is called rattoon.

Plant"-eat`ing (?), a. Eating, or subsisting on, plants; as, a plant-eating beetle.

Plant"ed (?), a. (Joinery) Fixed in place, as a projecting member wrought on a separate piece of stuff; as, a planted molding.

Plant"er (?), n. 1. One who, or that which, plants or sows; as, a planterof corn; a machine planter.

2. One who owns or cultivates a plantation; as, a sugar planter; a coffee planter.

3. A colonist in a new or uncultivated territory; as, the first planters in Virginia.

Plant"er*ship, n. The occupation or position of a planter, or the management of a plantation, as in the United States or the West Indies.

Plant"i*cle (?), n. [Dim. of Plant.] A young plant, or plant in embryo. E. Darwin.

||Plan`ti*gra"da (?), n. pl. [NL.] (Zoˆl.) A subdivision of Carnivora ||having plantigrade feet. It includes the bears, raccoons, and allied ||species.

Plan"ti*grade (?), a. [L. planta sole of the foot + gradi to walk: cf. F. plantigrade.] (Zoˆl.) (a) Walking on the sole of the foot; pertaining to the plantigrades. (b) Having the foot so formed that the heel touches the ground when the leg is upright.

Plan"ti*grade, n. (Zoˆl.) A plantigrade animal, or one that walks or steps on the sole of the foot, as man, and the bears.

Plant"ing (?), n. 1. The act or operation of setting in the ground for propagation, as seeds, trees, shrubs, etc.; the forming of plantations, as of trees; the carrying on of plantations, as of sugar, coffee, etc.

2. That which is planted; a plantation.

Trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord.

Isa. lxi. 3.

3. (Arch.) The laying of the first courses of stone in a foundation. [Eng.]

Plant"less, a. Without plants; barren of vegetation.

Plant"let, n. A little plant.

Plan*toc"ra*cy (?), n. [Planter + -cracy, as in democracy.] Government by planters; planters, collectively. [R.]

Plant"ule (?), n. [F., dim. of plante a plant, L. planta.] (Bot.) The embryo which has begun its development in the act of germination.

||Plan"u*la (?), n.; pl. PlanulÊ (#). [L., a little plane.] 1. (Biol.) ||In embryonic development, a vesicle filled with fluid, formed from ||the morula by the divergence of its cells in such a manner as to give ||rise to a central space, around which the cells arrange themselves as ||an envelope; an embryonic form intermediate between the morula and ||gastrula. Sometimes used as synonymous with gastrula.

2. (Zoˆl.) The very young, free- swimming larva of the cúlenterates. It usually has a flattened oval or oblong form, and is entirely covered with cilia.

Planx"ty (?), n. [Cf. L. plangere to mourn aloud.] (Mus.) An Irish or Welsh melody for the harp, sometimes of a mournful character.

Plaque (?), n. [F. Cf. Plack, and see Placard.] Any flat, thin piece of metal, clay, ivory, or the like, used for ornament, or for painting pictures upon, as a slab, plate, dish, or the like, hung upon a wall; also, a smaller decoration worn on the person, as a brooch.

Plash (?), n. [OD. plasch. See Plash, v.] 1. A small pool of standing water; a puddle. Bacon. "These shallow plashes." Barrow.

2. A dash of water; a splash.

Plash, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Plashed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Plashing.] [Cf. D. plassen, G. platschen. Cf. Splash.] To dabble in water; to splash. "Plashing among bedded pebbles." Keats.

Far below him plashed the waters.

Longfellow.

Plash, v. t. 1. To splash, as water.

2. To splash or sprinkle with coloring matter; as, to plash a wall in imitation of granite.

Plash, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Plashed (&?;); p. pr. & vb. n. Plashing.] [OF. plaissier, plessier, to bend. Cf. Pleach.] To cut partly, or to bend and intertwine the branches of; as, to plash a hedge. Evelyn.

Plash, n. The branch of a tree partly cut or bent, and bound to, or intertwined with, other branches.

Plash"et (?), n. [Plash + - et.] A small pond or pool; a puddle.

Plash"ing, n. 1. The cutting or bending and intertwining the branches of small trees, as in hedges.

2. The dashing or sprinkling of coloring matter on the walls of buildings, to imitate granite, etc.

Plash"oot (?), n. A hedge or fence formed of branches of trees interlaced, or plashed. [Obs.] Carew.

Plash"y (?), a. [From 1st Plash.] 1. Watery; abounding with puddles; splashy. "Plashy fens." Milton. "The plashy earth." Wordsworth.

2. Specked, as if plashed with color. Keats.

Plasm (?), n. [L. plasma anything formed or molded, that which is molded, Gr. &?;, &?;, from &?; to form, mold: cf. F. plasme. Cf. Plasma.] 1. A mold or matrix in which anything is cast or formed to a particular shape. [R.] Woodward.

2. (Biol.) Same as Plasma.

Plas"ma (?), n. [See Plasm.] 1. (Min.) A variety of quartz, of a color between grass green and leek green, which is found associated with common chalcedony. It was much esteemed by the ancients for making engraved ornaments.

2. (Biol.) The viscous material of an animal or vegetable cell, out of which the various tissues are formed by a process of differentiation; protoplasm.

3. Unorganized material; elementary matter.

4. (Med.) A mixture of starch and glycerin, used as a substitute for ointments. U. S. Disp.

Blood plasma (Physiol.), the colorless fluid of the blood, in which the red and white blood corpuscles are suspended. -- Muscle plasma (Physiol.), the fundamental part of muscle fibers, a thick, viscid, albuminous fluid contained within the sarcolemma, which on the death of the muscle coagulates to a semisolid mass.

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{ Plas*mat"ic (?), Plas*mat"ic*al (?), } a. [Gr. &?;.] 1. Forming; shaping; molding. [Obs.] Dr. H. More.

2. (Biol.) Of or pertaining to plasma; having the character of plasma; containing, or conveying, plasma.

Plas*ma"tion (?), n. [L. plasmatio.] The act of forming or molding. [R.] Grafton.

Plas*ma"tor (?), n. [L.] A former; a fashioner. [R.] "The sovereign plasmator, God Almighty." Urquhart.

Plas"ma*ture (?), n. Form; mold. [R.]

Plas"mic (?), a. Of, pertaining to, or connected with, plasma; plasmatic.

Plas"min (?), n. (Physiol. Chem.) A proteid body, separated by some physiologists from blood plasma. It is probably identical with fibrinogen.

Plas*mo"di*al (?), a. (Biol.) Of or pertaining to, or like, a plasmodium; as, the plasmodial form of a life cycle.

||Plas*mo"di*um (?), n.; pl. Plasmodia (#). [NL. See Plasma.] 1. ||(Biol.) A jellylike mass of free protoplasm, without any union of ||amúboid cells, and endowed with life and power of motion.

2. (Zoˆl.) A naked mobile mass of protoplasm, formed by the union of several amúbalike young, and constituting one of the stages in the life cycle of Mycetozoa and other low organisms.

Plas"mo*gen (?), n. [Plasma + -gen.] (Biol.) The important living portion of protoplasm, considered a chemical substance of the highest elaboration. Germ plasm and idioplasm are forms of plasmogen.

||Plas"son (?), n. [NL., fr. Gr. &?; to form.] (Biol.) The albuminous ||material composing the body of a cytode.

It is considered simpler than protoplasm of an ordinary cell in that it has not undergone differentiation into the inner cell nucleus and the outer cell substance. Haeckel.

Plas"ter (?), n. [AS., a plaster (in sense 1), fr. L. emplastrum, Gr. &?;, &?;, fr. &?; to daub on, stuff in; &?; in + &?; to mold: cf. OF. plastre a plaster (in sense 2), F. pl‚tre. Cf. Plastic, Emplaster, Piaster.] [Formerly written also plaister.] 1. (Med.) An external application of a consistency harder than ointment, prepared for use by spreading it on linen, leather, silk, or other material. It is adhesive at the ordinary temperature of the body, and is used, according to its composition, to produce a medicinal effect, to bind parts together, etc.; as, a porous plaster; sticking plaster.

2. A composition of lime, water, and sand, with or without hair as a bond, for coating walls, ceilings, and partitions of houses. See Mortar.

3. Calcined gypsum, or plaster of Paris, especially when ground, as used for making ornaments, figures, moldings, etc.; or calcined gypsum used as a fertilizer.

Plaster cast, a copy of an object obtained by pouring plaster of Paris mixed with water into a mold. -- Plaster of Paris. [So called because originally brought from a suburb of Paris.] (Chem.) Anhydrous calcium sulphate, or calcined gypsum, which forms with water a paste which soon sets or hardens, and is used for casts, moldings, etc. The term is loosely applied to any plaster stone or species of gypsum. -- Plaster of Paris bandage (Surg.), a bandage saturated with a paste of plaster of Paris, which on drying forms a perfectly fitting splint. -- Plaster stone, any species of gypsum. See Gypsum.

Plas"ter, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Plastered (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Plastering.] [Cf. OF. plastrer to plaster (in sense 2), F. pl‚trer.] 1. To cover with a plaster, as a wound or sore.

2. To overlay or cover with plaster, as the ceilings and walls of a house.

3. Fig.: To smooth over; to cover or conceal the defects of; to hide, as with a covering of plaster. Bale.

Plas"ter*er (?), n. 1. One who applies plaster or mortar. "Thy father was a plasterer." Shak.

2. One who makes plaster casts. "The plasterer doth make his figures by addition." Sir H. Wotton.

Plas"ter*ing, n. 1. Same as Plaster, n., 2.

2. The act or process of overlaying with plaster.

3. A covering of plaster; plasterwork.

Plas"ter*ly, a. Resembling plaster of Paris. [R.] "Out of gypseous or plasterly ground." Fuller.

Plas"ter*work` (?), n. Plastering used to finish architectural constructions, exterior or interior, especially that used for the lining of rooms. Ordinarly, mortar is used for the greater part of the work, and pure plaster of Paris for the moldings and ornaments.

Plas"ter*y, a. Of the nature of plaster.

The stone . . . is a poor plastery material.

Clough.

-plas"tic (-pls"tk). [Gr. &?; fit for molding, plastic, fr. &?; to mold, to form.] A combining form signifying developing, forming, growing; as, heteroplastic, monoplastic, polyplastic.

Plas"tic (pls"tk), a. [L. plasticus, Gr. &?;, fr. &?; to form, mold: cf. F. plastique.] 1. Having the power to give form or fashion to a mass of matter; as, the plastic hand of the Creator. Prior.

See plastic Nature working to his end.

Pope.

2. Capable of being molded, formed, or modeled, as clay or plaster; -- used also figuratively; as, the plastic mind of a child.

3. Pertaining or appropriate to, or characteristic of, molding or modeling; produced by, or appearing as if produced by, molding or modeling; -- said of sculpture and the kindred arts, in distinction from painting and the graphic arts.

Medallions . . . fraught with the plastic beauty and grace of the palmy days of Italian art.

J. S. Harford.

Plastic clay (Geol.), one of the beds of the Eocene period; -- so called because used in making pottery. Lyell. -- Plastic element (Physiol.), one that bears within the germs of a higher form. -- Plastic exudation (Med.), an exudation thrown out upon a wounded surface and constituting the material of repair by which the process of healing is effected. -- Plastic foods. (Physiol.) See the second Note under Food. -- Plastic force. (Physiol.) See under Force. -- Plastic operation, an operation in plastic surgery. -- Plastic surgery, that branch of surgery which is concerned with the repair or restoration of lost, injured, or deformed parts of the body.

Plas"tic*al (?), a. See Plastic. [R.]

Plas"tic*al*ly, adv. In a plastic manner.

Plas*tic"i*ty (?), n. [Cf. F. plasticitÈ.] 1. The quality or state of being plastic.

2. (Physiol.) Plastic force. Dunglison.

{ Plas"tid (?), Plas"tide (?), } n. [Gr. &?;, &?;, a creator.] 1. (Biol.) A formative particle of albuminous matter; a monad; a cytode. See the Note under Morphon. Haeckel.

2. (Bot.) One of the many minute granules found in the protoplasm of vegetable cells. They are divided by their colors into three classes, chloroplastids, chromoplastids, and leucoplastids.

||Plas`ti*do*zo"a (?), n. pl. [NL., fr. Gr. &?;, &?;, creator + &?; ||animal.] (Zoˆl.) Same as Protoza.

Plas"ti*dule (?), n. [Dim. fr. Plastid.] (Biol.) One of the small particles or organic molecules of protoplasm. Haeckel.

Plas"tin (?), n. [Gr. &?; to form, mold.] (Biol.) A substance associated with nuclein in cell nuclei, and by some considered as the fundamental substance of the nucleus.

Plas*tog"ra*phy (?), n. [Gr. &?;; &?; fored, molded + &?; to write.] 1. The art of forming figures in any plastic material.

2. Imitation of handwriting; forgery.

Plas"tron (?), n. [F. plastron breastplate, plastron, LL. plastra a thin plate of metal. See Plaster.] 1. A piece of leather stuffed or padded, worn by fencers to protect the breast. Dryden.

3. (Anc. Armor) An iron breastplate, worn under the hauberk.

3. (Anat.) The ventral shield or shell of tortoises and turtles. See Testudinata.

4. A trimming for the front of a woman's dress, made of a different material, and narrowing from the shoulders to the waist.

-plas"ty (?). [Gr. &?; to mold, form.] A combining form denoting the act or process of forming, development, growth; as, autoplasty, perineoplasty.

Plat (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Platted; p. pr. & vb. n. Platting.] [See Plait.] To form by interlaying interweaving; to braid; to plait. "They had platted a crown of thorns." Matt. xxvii. 29.

Plat, n. Work done by platting or braiding; a plait.

Her hair, nor loose, nor tied in formal plat.

Shak.

Plat, n. [Cf. Plat flat, which perh. caused this spelling, and Plot a piece of ground.] A small piece or plot of ground laid out with some design, or for a special use; usually, a portion of flat, even ground.

This flowery plat, the sweet recess of Eve.

Milton.

I keep smooth plat of fruitful ground.

Tennyson.

Plat, v. t. To lay out in plats or plots, as ground.

Plat, a. [F. plat. See Plate, n.] Plain; flat; level. [Obs.] Gower.

Plat, adv. 1. Plainly; flatly; downright. [Obs.]

But, sir, ye lie, I tell you plat.

Rom. of R.

2. Flatly; smoothly; evenly. [Obs.] Drant.

Plat, n. 1. The flat or broad side of a sword. [Obs. or Prov. Eng.] Chaucer.

2. A plot; a plan; a design; a diagram; a map; a chart. [Obs. or Prov. Eng.] "To note all the islands, and to set them down in plat." Hakluyt.

Plat"an (?), n. [L. platanus. See Plane the tree.] [Written also platane.] The plane tree. Tennyson.

Plat"a*nist (?), n. [L. platanista a sort of fish, Gr. &?;: cf. F. plataniste.] (Zoˆl.) The soosoo.

||Plat"a*nus (?), n. [See Plane the tree.] (Bot.) A genus of trees; the ||plane tree.

Plat"band` (?), n. [F. plate- bande; plat, plate, flat, level + bande a band.] 1. A border of flowers in a garden, along a wall or a parterre; hence, a border.

2. (Arch.) (a) A flat molding, or group of moldings, the width of which much exceeds its projection, as the face of an architrave. (b) A list or fillet between the flutings of a column.

Plate (?), n. [OF. plate a plate of metal, a cuirsas, F. plat a plate, a shallow vessel of silver, other metal, or earth, fr. plat flat, Gr. &?;. See Place, n.] 1. A flat, or nearly flat, piece of metal, the thickness of which is small in comparison with the other dimensions; a thick sheet of metal; as, a steel plate.

2. Metallic armor composed of broad pieces.

Mangled . . . through plate and mail.

Milton.

3. Domestic vessels and utensils, as flagons, dishes, cups, etc., wrought in gold or silver.

4. Metallic ware which is plated, in distinction from that which is genuine silver or gold.

5. A small, shallow, and usually circular, vessel of metal or wood, or of earth glazed and baked, from which food is eaten at table.

6. [Cf. Sp. plata silver.] A piece of money, usually silver money. [Obs.] "Realms and islands were as plates dropp'd from his pocket." Shak.

7. A piece of metal on which anything is engraved for the purpose of being printed; hence, an impression from the engraved metal; as, a book illustrated with plates; a fashion plate.

8. A page of stereotype, electrotype, or the like, for printing from; as, publisher's plates.

9. That part of an artificial set of teeth which fits to the mouth, and holds the teeth in place. It may be of gold, platinum, silver, rubber, celluloid, etc.

10. (Arch.) A horizontal timber laid upon a wall, or upon corbels projecting from a wall, and supporting the ends of other timbers; also used specifically of the roof plate which supports the ends of the roof trusses or, in simple work, the feet of the rafters.

11. (Her.) A roundel of silver or tinctured argent.

12. (Photog.) A sheet of glass, porcelain, metal, etc., with a coating that is sensitive to light.

13. A prize giving to the winner in a contest.

Plate is sometimes used in an adjectival sense or in combination, the phrase or compound being in most cases of obvious signification; as, plate basket or plate-basket, plate rack or plate-rack.

Home plate. (Baseball) See Home base, under Home. -- Plate armor. (a) See Plate, n., 2. (b) Strong metal plates for protecting war vessels, fortifications, and the like. -- Plate bone, the shoulder blade, or scapula. -- Plate girder, a girder, the web of which is formed of a single vertical plate, or of a series of such plates riveted together. -- Plate glass. See under Glass. -- Plate iron, wrought iron plates. -- Plate layer, a workman who lays down the rails of a railway and fixes them to the sleepers or ties. -- Plate mark, a special mark or emblematic figure stamped upon gold or silver plate, to indicate the place of manufacture, the degree of purity, and the like; thus, the local mark for London is a lion. -- Plate paper, a heavy spongy paper, for printing from engraved plates. Fairholt. -- Plate press, a press with a flat carriage and a roller, -- used for printing from engraved steel or copper plates. -- Plate printer, one who prints from engraved plates. -- Plate printing, the act or process of printing from an engraved plate or plates. -- Plate tracery. (Arch.) See under Tracery. - - Plate wheel (Mech.), a wheel, the rim and hub of which are connected by a continuous plate of metal, instead of by arms or spokes.

Plate (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Plated; p. pr. & vb. n. Plating.] 1. To cover or overlay with gold, silver, or other metals, either by a mechanical process, as hammering, or by a chemical process, as electrotyping.

2. To cover or overlay with plates of metal; to arm with metal for defense.

Thus plated in habiliments of war.

Shak.

3. To adorn with plated metal; as, a plated harness.

4. To beat into thin, flat pieces, or laminÊ.

5. To calender; as, to plate paper.

Pla*teau" (?), n.; pl. F. Plateaux (F. &?;; E. &?;), E. Plateaus (#). [F., fr. OF. platel, properly a little plate. See Plate.] 1. A flat surface; especially, a broad, level, elevated area of land; a table- land.

2. An ornamental dish for the table; a tray or salver.

Plate"ful (?), n.; pl. Platefuls (&?;). Enough to fill a plate; as much as a plate will hold.

Plate"-gilled` (?), a. (Zoˆl.) Having flat, or leaflike, gills, as the bivalve mollusks.

Pla"tel (?), n. [OF. See Plateau.] A small dish.

Plat"en (?), n. [F. platine, fr. plat flat. See Plate, and cf. Platin.] (Mach.) (a) The part of a printing press which presses the paper against the type and by which the impression is made. (b) Hence, an analogous part of a typewriter, on which the paper rests to receive an impression. (c) 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.

Plat"er (?), n. One who plates or coats articles with gold or silver; as, a silver plater.

2. A machine for calendering paper.

Plat`er*esque" (?), a. [Sp. resco, from plata silver.] (Arch.) Resembling silver plate; -- said of certain architectural ornaments.

Plat"e*trope (?), n. [Gr. &?; breadth + &?; to turn.] (Anat.) One of a pair of a paired organs.

Plat"form` (?), n. [Plat, a. + -form: cf. F. plateforme.] 1. A plat; a plan; a sketch; a model; a pattern. Used also figuratively. [Obs.] Bacon.

2. A place laid out after a model. [Obs.]

lf the platform just reflects the order.

Pope.

3. Any flat or horizontal surface; especially, one that is raised above some particular level, as a framework of timber or boards horizontally joined so as to form a roof, or a raised floor, or portion of a floor; a landing; a dais; a stage, for speakers, performers, or workmen; a standing place.

4. A declaration of the principles upon which a person, a sect, or a party proposes to stand; a declared policy or system; as, the Saybrook platform; a political platform. "The platform of Geneva." Hooker.

5. (Naut.) A light deck, usually placed in a section of the hold or over the floor of the magazine. See Orlop.

Platform car, a railway car without permanent raised sides or covering; a f&?;at. -- Platform scale, a weighing machine, with a flat platform on which objects are weighed.

Plat"form`, v. t. 1. To place on a platform. [R.]