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The definition of a plane is a woodworking tool that removes wood to create a flat surface, or the shortened form of the word airplane.

(noun)

An example of a plane is the tool used to smooth the sides of doors to make them close more easily.
An example of a plane is an airplane that flys from New York to San Francisco.

To plane is to make smooth or even.

(verb)

An example of to plane is to use a tool to scrape long strips of wood off the edge of a door to make it fit better in the doorway.

See plane in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

any of a genus (Platanus) of trees of the plane-tree family having maplelike leaves, spherical dry fruits, and bark that sheds in large patches; sycamore

Origin: ME < MFr plasne < L platanus < Gr platanos < platys, broad (see platy-): from its broad leaves

adjective

flat; level; even
Math.
1. lying on a surface that is a plane
2. of such surfaces

Origin: L planus: see plain

noun

a surface that wholly contains every straight line joining any two points lying in it
a flat, level, or even surface
a level of development, achievement, existence, etc.
airplane
any airfoil; esp., a wing of an airplane

Origin: L planum

noun

a carpenter's tool for shaving a wood surface in order to make it smooth, level, etc.

Origin: OFr plaine < LL plana < planare, to plane, make level < L planus: see plain

transitive verb planed, planing

to make smooth or level with or as with a plane
to remove with or as with a plane: with off or away

intransitive verb

to work with a plane
to do the work of a plane

intransitive verb planed, planing

to soar or glide
to rise partly out of the water while in motion at high speed, as a hydroplane (sense ) does
to travel by airplane

Origin: Fr planer < OFr plan, level surface (term used in falconry, in reference to position of bird's wings while soaring) < LL planare, to make level: see plane

See plane in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun

Mathematics A surface containing all the straight lines that connect any two points on it.
A flat or level surface.
A level of development, existence, or achievement: scholarship on a high plane.
An airplane or hydroplane.
A supporting surface of an airplane; an airfoil or wing.

adjective

Mathematics Of or being a figure lying in a plane: a plane curve.
Flat; level. See Synonyms at level.

Origin:

Origin: Latin plānum, flat surface

Origin: , from neuter of plānus, flat; see pelə-² in Indo-European roots

Origin: . N., sense 4, short for aeroplane

Related Forms:

planeˈness noun

Word History: The plane in which we fly is properly named for a very important element of its structure—the wing that keeps it in the air. But the story behind this name is slightly complicated. To begin with, plane in the sense of “winged vehicle,” first recorded in April 1908, is a shortened form of aeroplane. In June of that year plane appeared in a quotation from the London Times that mentioned one of the Wright brothers. Aeroplane, first recorded in 1866, is made up of the prefix aero-, “air, aviation,” and the word plane, referring to the structure designed to keep an air vehicle aloft. Originally the plane in such contexts was imagined as flat, hence the choice of the word plane; in practice this surface must curve slightly in order to work. The word aeroplane for the vehicle is first found in 1873. The first recorded appearance of the form airplane in our current sense, which uses air- instead of aero-, is found in 1907. An American flies in an airplane while a Briton still travels in an aeroplane, but both can catch a plane.

noun

A carpenter's tool with an adjustable blade for smoothing and leveling wood.
A trowel-shaped tool for smoothing the surface of clay, sand, or plaster in a mold.

verb planed planed, plan·ing, planes

verb, transitive