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plater

American  
[pley-ter, plat-er] / ˈpleɪ tər, ˈplæt ər /

noun

  1. a person or thing that plates. plate.

  2. an inferior race horse.

plater British  
/ ˈpleɪtə /

noun

  1. a person or thing that plates

  2. horse racing

    1. a mediocre horse entered chiefly for minor races

    2. a blacksmith who shoes racehorses with the special type of light shoe used for racing

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of plater

First recorded in 1710–20; plate 1 + -er 1

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Mr Paterson, a plater and shipyard worker who was walking home after a curry night with his friend and cousin, suffered "significant external and internal" injuries.

From BBC • Nov. 17, 2025

Alex Logan started to learn his trade as a shipbuilder at the age of 16 and has spent his entire working life at the Ferguson shipyard as a plater.

From BBC • Sep. 13, 2025

Nathan Wyllie, 19, is being trained as a plater.

From BBC • Sep. 27, 2022

One day last week Student Elkins liked the looks of Merry Caroline, a cheap plater running in the second race at Chicago's Washington Park.

From Time Magazine Archive

I owes the woman where I eats, I owes the feed man, I owes the plater, 'n' I owes every gink that'll stand fur a touch.

From Blister Jones by Hambridge, Jay

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.