[syn: flat, level, plane]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Plane \Plane\, n. [F., fr. L. platanus, Gr. ?, fr. ? broad; --
so called on account of its broad leaves and spreading form.
See Place, and cf. Platane, Plantain the tree.] (Bot.)
Any tree of the genus Platanus.
[1913 Webster]
Note: The Oriental plane (Platanus orientalis) is a native
of Asia. It rises with a straight, smooth, branching
stem to a great height, with palmated leaves, and long
pendulous peduncles, sustaining several heads of small
close-sitting flowers. The seeds are downy, and
collected into round, rough, hard balls. The Occidental
plane (Platanus occidentalis), which grows to a great
height, is a native of North America, where it is
popularly called sycamore, buttonwood, and
buttonball, names also applied to the California
species (Platanus racemosa).
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Plane \Plane\, a. [L. planus: cf. F. plan. See Plan, a.]
Without elevations or depressions; even; level; flat; lying
in, or constituting, a plane; as, a plane surface.
[1913 Webster]
Note: In science, this word (instead of plain) is almost
exclusively used to designate a flat or level surface.
[1913 Webster]
Plane angle, the angle included between two straight lines
in a plane.
Plane chart, Plane curve. See under Chart and Curve.
Plane figure, a figure all points of which lie in the same
plane. If bounded by straight lines it is a rectilinear
plane figure, if by curved lines it is a curvilinear plane
figure.
Plane geometry, that part of geometry which treats of the
relations and properties of plane figures.
Plane problem, a problem which can be solved geometrically
by the aid of the right line and circle only.
Plane sailing (Naut.), the method of computing a ship's
place and course on the supposition that the earth's
surface is a plane.
Plane scale (Naut.), a scale for the use of navigators, on
which are graduated chords, sines, tangents, secants,
rhumbs, geographical miles, etc.
Plane surveying, surveying in which the curvature of the
earth is disregarded; ordinary field and topographical
surveying of tracts of moderate extent.
Plane table, an instrument used for plotting the lines of a
survey on paper in the field.
Plane trigonometry, the branch of trigonometry in which its
principles are applied to plane triangles.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Plane \Plane\, v. i.
Of a boat, to lift more or less out of the water while in
motion, after the manner of a hydroplane; to hydroplane.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Plane \Plane\, n. [F. plane, L. plana. See Plane, v. & a.]
1. (Geom.) A surface, real or imaginary, in which, if any two
points are taken, the straight line which joins them lies
wholly in that surface; or a surface, any section of which
by a like surface is a straight line; a surface without
curvature.
[1913 Webster]
2. (Astron.) An ideal surface, conceived as coinciding with,
or containing, some designated astronomical line, circle,
or other curve; as, the plane of an orbit; the plane of
the ecliptic, or of the equator.
[1913 Webster]
3. (Mech.) A block or plate having a perfectly flat surface,
used as a standard of flatness; a surface plate.
[1913 Webster]
4. (Joinery) A tool for smoothing boards or other surfaces of
wood, for forming moldings, etc. It consists of a
smooth-soled stock, usually of wood, from the under side
or face of which projects slightly the steel cutting edge
of a chisel, called the iron, which inclines backward,
with an apperture in front for the escape of shavings; as,
the jack plane; the smoothing plane; the molding plane,
etc.
[1913 Webster]
Objective plane (Surv.), the horizontal plane upon which
the object which is to be delineated, or whose place is to
be determined, is supposed to stand.
Perspective plane. See Perspective.
Plane at infinity (Geom.), a plane in which points
infinitely distant are conceived as situated.
Plane iron, the cutting chisel of a joiner's plane.
Plane of polarization. (Opt.) See Polarization.
Plane of projection.
(a) The plane on which the projection is made,
corresponding to the perspective plane in perspective;
-- called also principal plane.
(b) (Descriptive Geom.) One of the planes to which points
are referred for the purpose of determining their
relative position in space.
Plane of refraction or Plane of reflection (Opt.), the
plane in which lie both the incident ray and the refracted
or reflected ray.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Plane \Plane\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Planed; p. pr. & vb. n.
Planing.] [Cf. F. planer, L. planare, fr. planus. See
Plane, a., Plain, a., and cf. Planish.]
1. To make smooth; to level; to pare off the inequalities of
the surface of, as of a board or other piece of wood, by
the use of a plane; as, to plane a plank.
[1913 Webster]
2. To efface or remove.
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He planed away the names . . . written on his
tables. --Chaucer.
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3. Figuratively, to make plain or smooth. [R.]
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What student came but that you planed her path.
--Tennyson.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
aeroplane \aer"*o*plane`\ aeroplane \a"["e]r*o*plane`\, n.
[a["e]ro- + plane.] (A["e]ronautics)
1. A light rigid plane used in a["e]rial navigation to oppose
sudden upward or downward movement in the air, as in
gliding machines; specif., such a plane slightly inclined
and driven forward as a lifting device in some flying
machines. Also called airfoil.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
2. Hence: A heavier-than-air flying machine using such a
device to provide lift; an airplane. In a modern
aeroplane, the airfoils are called the wings, and most
of the lift is derived from these surfaces. In contrast to
helicopters, the wings are fixed to the passenger
compartment (airframe) and do not move relative to the
frame; thus such a machine is called a fixed-wing
aircraft. These machines are called monoplanes, biplanes,
triplanes, or quadruplanes, according to the number of
main supporting planes (wings) used in their construction.
After 1940 few planes with more than one airfoil were
constructed, and these are used by hobbyists or for
special purposes. Being heavier than air they depend for
their levitation on motion imparted by the thrust from
either propellers driven by an engine, or, in a jet plane,
by the reaction from a high-velocity stream of gases
expelled rearward from a jet engine. They start from the
ground by a run on small wheels or runners, and are guided
by a steering apparatus consisting of horizontal and
vertical movable planes, which usually form part of the
wings or tail. There are many varieties of form and
construction, which in some cases are known by the names
of their inventors. In U.S., an aeroplane is usually
called an airplane or plane.
[Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
plane
adj 1: having a surface without slope, tilt in which no part is
higher or lower than another; "a flat desk"; "acres of
level farmland"; "a plane surface"; "skirts sewn with
fine flat seams" [syn: flat, level, plane]
n 1: an aircraft that has a fixed wing and is powered by
propellers or jets; "the flight was delayed due to trouble
with the airplane" [syn: airplane, aeroplane, plane]
2: (mathematics) an unbounded two-dimensional shape; "we will
refer to the plane of the graph as the X-Y plane"; "any line
joining two points on a plane lies wholly on that plane"
[syn: plane, sheet]
3: a level of existence or development; "he lived on a worldly
plane"
4: a power tool for smoothing or shaping wood [syn: plane,
planer, planing machine]
5: a carpenter's hand tool with an adjustable blade for
smoothing or shaping wood; "the cabinetmaker used a plane for
the finish work" [syn: plane, carpenter's plane,
woodworking plane]
v 1: cut or remove with or as if with a plane; "The machine
shaved off fine layers from the piece of wood" [syn:
plane, shave]
2: travel on the surface of water [syn: plane, skim]
3: make even or smooth, with or as with a carpenter's plane;
"plane the top of the door"
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
182 Moby Thesaurus words for "plane":
aeroplane, aircraft, airliner, airplane, alabaster, amount, aspire,
avion, beading plane, become airborne, bench plane, billiard table,
block plane, bowling alley, bowling green, caliber, capping plane,
claw skyward, compass, core-box plane, cut, dab, dado plane,
dead flat, dead level, degree, dovetail plane, downy, drag, dress,
dub, earth, edge plane, equalize, esplanade, even, extent, flat,
flatland, flatten, flattened, float, floor, flush, fly, fly aloft,
flying machine, fore plane, gain altitude, glabrate, glabrescent,
glabrous, glass, glide, grade, grease, grooving plane, ground,
hang, harrow, heavier-than-air craft, height, homaloid, homaloidal,
horizontal, horizontal axis, horizontal fault, horizontal line,
horizontal parallax, horizontal plane, horizontal projection,
hover, ice, interval, ivory, jack plane, jet plane, jointer, kite,
lay, leap, leave the ground, ledge, leiotrichous, level,
level line, level plane, lubricate, mahogany, marble, mark,
mean sea level, measure, mow, notch, nuance, oil, parterre, pas,
peg, period, pitch, plain, planer, planing machine, planish,
plaster, plateau, platform, point, poise, prairie, proportion,
rabbet plane, range, ratio, reach, reed plane, regular, remove,
rolled, round, routing plane, rung, sash plane, satin, scale,
scope, scraper plane, scrub plane, sea level, sea of grass, shade,
shadow, shave, ship, silk, skate, skid, skim, slide, slip, smooth,
smooth down, smooth out, smooth-shaven, smooth-textured,
smoothed out, smoothen, smoothened, soar, space, spire, squashed,
squashed flat, stair, standard, step, steppe, stint, suave, table,
tabloid, tabular, take off, tennis court, terrace, thumb plane,
tread, trenching plane, trodden, trodden flat, trying plane,
unbroken, uniform, uninterrupted, unrough, unroughened, unruffled,
velvet, water level, zoom