See Also: Plane(medicine)
eye-ear plane(medicine)
plane(3)(dictionary)
plane(1)(dictionary)
plane(2)(dictionary)
plane(4)(dictionary)
plane(5)(dictionary)
plane(7)(dictionary)
ski plane(dictionary)
plane(6)(dictionary)

plane(1) (iou)



plane adjective. M17.
[Refash. of PLAIN adjective1 (after French plan, plane which similarly replaced plain, plaine) from Latin planus. Cf. PLANE noun3.]
Of a material surface: flat, level. M17.
a. Geometry. Of a surface: perfectly flat or level, without curvature, so that every straight line joining any two points in it lies wholly in it. Of an angle, figure, curve, etc.: lying wholly in such a surface. E18.
b. Pertaining to or involving only plane or two-dimensional surfaces or magnitudes E18.
Comb. & special collocations: plane chart: on which the meridians and parallels of latitude are represented by equidistant straight lines (cf. plane sailing (a) below); plane-parallel adjective both plane and parallel; plane-polarized adjective (of light etc.) consisting of electromagnetic oscillations that remain in the same two (mutually perpendicular) planes; plane sailing (a) the practice of determining a ship's position on the theory that she is moving on a plane; navigation by a plane chart; (b) fig. = plain sailing (c) s.v. PLAIN adjective1; plane-table noun & verb (a) noun a surveying instrument used for direct plotting in the field, consisting of a circular drawing board mounted horizontally on a tripod, and having an alidade pivoted over its centre; (b) verb trans. survey with the plane-table; plane-tabler a surveyor who uses a plane-table; plane TRIGONOMETRY.
planeness noun M17.