silver plate
Also silver-plate.
1. a. A thin flat piece of silver.
| 1526 Tindale Matt. xxvii. 5 And he cast doune the sylver plates in the temple and departed. 1563 Homilies ii. Agst. Idolatry i. F f j, Shall the goldsmyth couer hym with golde and caste hym into a fourme of syluer plates? 1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Silver, A Tincture of Silver [made] by dissolving thin Silver Plates..in Spirit of Nitre. 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XV. 37/2 The ring..is first tinned, and then the silver-plate is gently hammered upon it. 1845 Athenæum 203 The delicately sensitive film which is formed on the silver plate in the Daguerréotype process. 1865 Chambers's Encycl. VII. 509/1 The sensibility of the silver plate was still further increased by Mr. Goddard. |
b. A silver dish in the form of a plate.
| 1710 Tatler No. 245 ¶2 A broad brimmed flat silver plate for sugar with Rhenish wine. |
2. collect. Vessels or utensils made of silver or an alloy of silver.
| 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 184 Pewter vessels..compared with silver plate. a 1653 Gouge Comm. Heb. xiii. 1 As silver-plate cleared is counted new, so this Commandment. 1717 Ramsay Elegy on Lucky Wood iv, Her peuther glanc'd..Like siller plate. 1851–4 Tomlinson's Cycl. Useful Arts (1867) II. 531/1 The alloy of silver and copper used..for the manufacture of silver-plate. 1861 Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 45 Round the apartment..was displayed in close array the silver and pewter plate. |
| Comb. 1632 Lithgow Trav. x. 469 Areta, his siluer plate keeper. |
3. Used as a jocular representation of
Fr. s'il vous plaît please.
slang.| 1919 Yank Talk 4/1 (caption) Silver plate! Loan me a coupla francs! 1920 Dialect Notes V. 79 Silver plate, s'il vous plaît. ‘More of the mutton, Mr. Brown, silver plate.’ |