Plain Plain adjective [ Compar. Plainer ; superl. Plainest .] [ French, level, flat, from Latin planus , perhaps akin to English floor . Confer Llano , Piano , Plan , Plane level, a level surface.] 1. Without elevations or depressions; flat; level; smooth; even. See Plane .

The crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain .

Isa. xl. 4.

2. Open; clear; unencumbered; equal; fair.

Our troops beat an army in plain fight.

Felton.

3. Not intricate or difficult; evident; manifest; obvious; clear; unmistakable. "'T is a plain case." Shak.

4. (a) Void of extraneous beauty or ornament; without conspicious embellishment; not rich; simple. (b) Not highly cultivated; unsophisticated; free from show or pretension; simple; natural; homely; common. " Plain yet pious Christians." Hammond. "The plain people." A. Lincoln. (c) Free from affectation or disguise; candid; sincere; artless; honest; frank. "An honest mind, and plain ." Shak. (d) Not luxurious; not highly seasoned; simple; as, plain food. (e) Without beauty; not handsome; homely; as, a plain woman. (f) Not variegated, dyed, or figured; as, plain muslin. (g) Not much varied by modulations; as, a plain tune.

Plain battle , open battle; pitched battle. [ Obsolete] Chaucer. -- Plain chant (Mus.) Same as Plain song , below. -- Plain chart (Nautical) , a chart laid down on Mercator's projection. -- Plain dealer . (a) One who practices plain dealing . (b) A simpleton . [ Obsolete] Shak. -- Plain dealing . See under Dealing . -- Plain molding (Join.) , molding of which the surfaces are plain figures. -- Plain sewing , sewing of seams by simple and common stitches, in distinct from fancy work, embroidery, etc.; -- distinguished also from designing and fitting garments. -- Plain song . (a) The Gregorian chant, or canto fermo ; the prescribed melody of the Roman Catholic service, sung in unison, in tones of equal length, and rarely extending beyond the compass of an octave . (b) A simple melody. -- Plain speaking , plainness or bluntness of speech.

Syn. -- Level; flat; smooth; open; artless; unaffected; undisguised; frank; sincere; honest; candid; ingenuous; unembellished; downright; blunt; clear; simple; distinct; manifest; obvious; apparent. See Manifest .

Plain Plain adverb In a plain manner; plainly. "To speak short and pleyn ." Chaucer. "To tell you plain ." Shak.

Plain Plain noun [ Confer Old French plaigne , French plaine . See Plain , adjective ] 1. Level land; usually, an open field or a broad stretch of land with an even surface, or a surface little varied by inequalities; as, the plain of Jordan; the American plains , or prairies.

Descending fro the mountain into playn .

Chaucer.

Him the Ammonite
Worshiped in Rabba and her watery plain .

Milton.

2. A field of battle. [ Obsolete] Arbuthnot.

Lead forth my soldiers to the plain .

Shak.

Plain Plain transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Plained ; present participle & verbal noun Plaining .] [ Confer Plane , v. ] 1. To plane or level; to make plain or even on the surface. [ R.]

We would rake Europe rather, plain the East.

Wither.

2. To make plain or manifest; to explain.

What's dumb in show, I'll plain in speech.

Shak.

Plain-dealing Plain"-deal`ing adjective Practicing plain dealing; artless. See Plain dealing , under Dealing . Shak.

Plain-hearted Plain"-heart`ed adjective Frank; sincere; artless. Milton. -- Plain"- heart`ed*ness , noun

Plain-laid Plain"-laid` adjective (Nautical) Consisting of strands twisted together in the ordinary way; as, a plain-laid rope. See Illust. of Cordage .

Plain-spoken Plain"-spo`ken adjective Speaking with plain, unreserved sincerity; also, spoken sincerely; as, plain-spoken words. Dryden.

Plainant Plain"ant noun [ See 1st Plain .] (Law) One who makes complaint; the plaintiff. [ Obsolete]

Plaining Plain"ing noun Complaint. [ Poetic] Shak.

Plaining Plain"ing adjective Complaining. [ Poetic] Bryant.

Plainly Plain"ly adverb In a plain manner; clearly.

Plainness Plain"ness noun The quality or state of being plain.

Plainsman Plains"man noun ; plural - men One who lives in the plains.

Plaint Plaint noun [ Middle English plainte , pleynte , French plainte , from Latin plangere , planctum ( plancta , fem. past participle ), to beat, beat the breast, lament. Confer Complain , Plague , Plangent .] 1. Audible expression of sorrow; lamentation; complaint; hence, a mournful song; a lament. Chaucer. "The Psalmist's mournful plaint ." Wordsworth.

2. An accusation or protest on account of an injury.

There are three just grounds of war with Spain: one of plaint , two upon defense.

Bacon.

3. (Law) A private memorial tendered to a court, in which a person sets forth his cause of action; the exhibiting of an action in writing. Blackstone.

Plaintful Plaint"ful adjective Containing a plaint; complaining; expressing sorrow with an audible voice. "My plaintful tongue." Sir P. Sidney.

Plaintiff Plain"tiff noun [ French plaintif making complaint, plaintive; in Old French equiv. to plaignant complainant, prosecutor, from plaindre . See Plaint , and confer Plaintive .] (Law) One who commences a personal action or suit to obtain a remedy for an injury to his rights; -- opposed to defendant .

Plaintiff Plain"tiff adjective See Plaintive . [ Obsolete] Prior.

Plaintive Plain"tive adjective [ French plaintif . See Plaintiff , noun ] 1. Repining; complaining; lamenting. Dryden.

2. Expressive of sorrow or melancholy; mournful; sad. "The most plaintive ditty." Landor.

-- Plain"tive*ly , adverb -- Plain"tive*ness , noun

Plaintless Plaint"less adjective Without complaint; unrepining. " Plaintless patience." Savage.

Plaisance Plai`sance" noun [ French] See Pleasance .

Plaise Plaise noun (Zoology) See Plaice . [ Obsolete]

Plaister Plais"ter noun [ Obsolete] See Plaster .

Plait Plait noun [ Middle English playte , Old French pleit , Latin plicatum , plicitum , past participle of plicare to fold, akin to plectere to plait. See Ply , and confer Plat to weave, Pleat , Plight fold.] 1. A flat fold; a doubling, as of cloth; a pleat; as, a box plait .

The plaits and foldings of the drapery.

Addison.

2. A braid, as of hair or straw; a plat.

Polish plait . (Medicine) Same as Plica .

Plait Plait transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Plaited ; present participle & verbal noun Plaiting .] 1. To fold; to double in narrow folds; to pleat; as, to plait a ruffle.

2. To interweave the strands or locks of; to braid; to plat; as, to plait hair; to plait rope.

Plaited Plait"ed adjective Folded; doubled over; braided; figuratively, involved; intricate; artful.

Time shall unfold what plaited cunning hides.

Shak.

Plaiter Plait"er noun One who, or that which, plaits.

Plan Plan noun [ French, from Latin planus flat, level. See Plain , adjective ] 1. A draught or form; properly, a representation drawn on a plane, as a map or a chart; especially, a top view, as of a machine, or the representation or delineation of a horizontal section of anything, as of a building; a graphic representation; a diagram.

2. A scheme devised; a method of action or procedure expressed or described in language; a project; as, the plan of a constitution; the plan of an expedition.

God's plans like lines pure and white unfold.

M. R. Smith.

3. A method; a way of procedure; a custom.

The simple plan ,
That they should take who have the power,
And they should keep who can.

Wordsworth.

Body plan , Floor plan , etc. See under Body , Floor , etc.

Syn. -- Scheme; draught; delineation; plot; sketch; project; design; contrivance; device. See Scheme .

Plan Plan transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Planned ; present participle & verbal noun Planning .] 1. To form a delineation of; to draught; to represent, as by a diagram.

2. To scheme; to devise; to contrive; to form in design; as, to plan the conquest of a country.

Even in penance, planning sins anew.

Goldsmith.

Planaria Pla·na"ri·a noun ; plural Latin Planarić , English -rias . [ New Latin See Planary .] (Zoology) Any species of turbellarian worms belonging to Planaria , and many allied genera. The body is usually flat, thin, and smooth. Some species, in warm countries, are terrestrial.

Planarian Pla·na"ri·an noun (Zoology) One of the Planarida, or Dendrocœla; any turbellarian worm. -- Pla*na"ri*an , adjective

Planarida Pla·nar"i·da noun plural [ New Latin ] (Zoology) A division of Turbellaria; the Dendrocœla.

Planarioid Pla·na"ri·oid adjective [ Planaria + -oid .] (Zoology) Like the planarians.

Planary Pla"na·ry adjective [ Latin planarius level. See Plane , adjective ] Of or pertaining to a plane. [ R.]

Planch Planch noun [ French planche .] A plank. [ Obsolete] Ld. Berners.

Planch Planch transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Planched ; present participle & verbal noun Planching .] [ French planche a board, plank. See Plank .] To make or cover with planks or boards; to plank. [ Obsolete] "To that vineyard is a planched gate." Shak.

Plancher Planch"er noun [ French, planche . See Planch .] 1. A floor of wood; also, a plank. [ Obsolete] Bacon.

2. (Architecture) The under side of a cornice; a soffit.

Plancher Planch"er transitive verb To form of planks. [ Obsolete] Golding.

Planchet Planch"et noun [ French planchette a small board, dim. of planche . See Planch .] A flat piece of metal; especially, a disk of metal ready to be stamped as a coin.

Planchette Plan`chette" noun [ French See Planchet .] 1. A circumferentor. See Circumferentor .

2. A small tablet of wood supported on casters and having a pencil attached. The characters produced by the pencil on paper, while the hand rests on the instrument and it is allowed to move, are sometimes translated as of oracular or supernatural import.

Planching Planch"ing noun The laying of floors in a building; also, a floor of boards or planks.

Plane Plane noun [ French, from Latin platanus , Greek ..., from ... broad; -- so called on account of its broad leaves and spreading form. See Place , and confer Platane , Plantain the tree.] (Botany) Any tree of the genus Platanus.

» 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 ).

Plane Plane adjective [ Latin planus : confer French plan . See Plan , adjective ] Without elevations or depressions; even; level; flat; lying in, or constituting, a plane; as, a plane surface.

» In science, this word (instead of plain ) is almost exclusively used to designate a flat or level surface.

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 (Nautical) , the method of computing a ship's place and course on the supposition that the earth's surface is a plane. -- Plane scale (Nautical) , 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.

Plane Plane noun [ French plane , Latin plana . See Plane , v. & adjective ] 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.

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.

3. (Mech.) A block or plate having a perfectly flat surface, used as a standard of flatness; a surface plate.

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.

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 reflection (Opt.) , the plane in which lie both the incident ray and the refracted or reflected ray.

Plane Plane transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Planed ; present participle & verbal noun Planing .] [ Confer French planer , Latin planare , from planus . See Plane , adjective , Plain , adjective , and confer 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.

2. To efface or remove.

He planed away the names . . . written on his tables.

Chaucer.

3. Figuratively, to make plain or smooth. [ R.]

What student came but that you planed her path.

Tennyson.

Plane Plane intransitive verb Of a boat, to lift more or less out of the water while in motion, after the manner of a hydroplane; to hydroplane.

Plane table Plane" ta`ble See under Plane , adjective

Plane tree Plane" tree` (Botany) Same as 1st Plane .

Plane-parallel Plane`-par"al·lel adjective (Optics) Having opposite surfaces exactly plane and parallel, as a piece of glass.

Planer Plan"er noun 1. One who, or that which, planes; a planing machine; esp., a machine for planing wood or metals.

2. (Print.) A wooden block used for forcing down the type in a form, and making the surface even. Hansard.

Planer centers . See under Center .

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