Plane

8 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              He planed away the names . . . written on his
              tables.                               --Chaucer.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Figuratively, to make plain or smooth. [R.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
              What student came but that you planed her path.
                                                    --Tennyson.
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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.]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  plane
       adj : having a horizontal surface in which no part is higher or
             lower than another; "a flat desk"; "acres of level
             farmland"; "a plane surface" [syn: {flat}, {level}]
       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}]
       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: {sheet}]
       3: a level of existence or development; "he lived on a worldly
          plane"
       4: a power tool for smoothing or shaping wood [syn: {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: {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: {shave}]
       2: travel on the surface of water [syn: {skim}]
       3: make even or smooth, with or as with a carpenter's plane;
          "plane the top of the door"

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  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