platter

[ plat-er ]

noun

1. a large, shallow dish, usually elliptical in shape, for holding and serving food, especially meat or fish.
2. a course of a meal, usually consisting of a variety of foods served on the same plate.
3. Slang. a phonograph record.
4. Computers. a hard disk, the rigid circular plate that rotates on a spindle within a hard disk drive, for data encoding and retrieval.
5. Movie Slang. a part of a motion-picture projector, consisting of a large, horizontally rotating disk that houses a feature film.

platter

/ ˈplætə /

noun

1. a large shallow usually oval dish or plate, used for serving food
2. a course of a meal, usually consisting of several different foods served on the same plate

   a seafood platter

Word History and Origins

Origin of platter¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English plater, from Anglo-French, derivative of plat “dish”; plate ¹, -er ²

Word History and Origins

Origin of platter¹

C14: from Anglo-Norman plater, from plat dish, from Old French plat flat; see plate

Idioms and Phrases

see under hand to on a silver platter .

Example Sentences

Handed the struggling Miami Dolphins on a blue-and-gold platter, the Rams fumbled the exchange, dropped the shining opportunity with a loud clang, made a total mess of the joint, and staggered away with a 23-15 loss that was as ugly as the score sounded.

From Los Angeles Times

“We gave the campaign a signal on a silver platter back in February, when they had plenty of time to shift to a policy that could have won them this election,” she said.

From Slate

The 21-year-old jigged across Twickenham's turf barefooted before the warm-ups, getting the size of the stage, and looked completely at home as he set up Tom Wright's try with the most delicious finger roll this side of a sushi platter.

From BBC

When he boasts that Putin would not have invaded Ukraine on his watch, what he means is that he would have handed the country over to the Russian autocrat on a silver platter, no invasion necessary.

From Los Angeles Times

Instead, Dinklage was set on being in a punk-funk band, he told Sean Evans while tackling a platter of spicy chicken wings on this week’s episode of “Hot Ones.”

From Salon

Related Words

• disc
• dish
• disk
• tray