Plane

n. [ F., fr. L. platanus, Gr. &unr_;, fr. &unr_; broad; -- so called on account of its broad leaves and spreading form. See Place, and cf. Platane, Plantain the tree. ] (Bot.) Any tree of the genus Platanus. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ 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). [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. planus: cf. F. plan. See Plan, a. ] Without elevations or depressions; even; level; flat; lying in, or constituting, a plane; as, a plane surface. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ In science, this word (instead of plain) is almost exclusively used to designate a flat or level surface. [ 1913 Webster ]

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 (Naut.), the method of computing a ship's place and course on the supposition that the earth's surface is a plane. --
Plane scale (Naut.), 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. plane, L. plana. See Plane, v. & a. ] 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Mech.) A block or plate having a perfectly flat surface, used as a standard of flatness; a surface plate. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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
Plane of reflection (Opt.), the plane in which lie both the incident ray and the refracted or reflected ray. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. Of a boat, to lift more or less out of the water while in motion, after the manner of a hydroplane; to hydroplane. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

a. (Optics) Having opposite surfaces exactly plane and parallel, as a piece of glass. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who, or that which, planes; a planing machine; esp., a machine for planing wood or metals. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Print.) A wooden block used for forcing down the type in a form, and making the surface even. Hansard. [ 1913 Webster ]

Planer centers. See under Center. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ From J. S. Planer, a German botanist. ] (Bot.) A small-leaved North American tree (Planera aquatica) related to the elm, but having a wingless, nutlike fruit. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. planete, F. planète, L. planeta, fr. Gr. &unr_;, and &unr_; a planet; prop. wandering, fr. &unr_; to wander, fr. &unr_; a wandering. ] 1. (Astron.) A celestial body which revolves about the sun in an orbit of a moderate degree of eccentricity. It is distinguished from a comet by the absence of a coma, and by having a less eccentric orbit. See Solar system. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The term planet was first used to distinguish those stars which have an apparent motion through the constellations from the fixed stars, which retain their relative places unchanged. The inferior planets are Mercury and Venus, which are nearer to the sun than is the earth; the superior planets are Mars, the asteroids, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, which are farther from the sun than is the earth. Primary planets are those which revolve about the sun; secondary planets, or moons, are those which revolve around the primary planets as satellites, and at the same time revolve with them about the sun. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A star, as influencing the fate of a men. [ 1913 Webster ]

There's some ill planet reigns. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Planet gear. (Mach.) See Epicyclic train, under Epicyclic. --
Planet wheel, a gear wheel which revolves around the wheel with which it meshes, in an epicyclic train. [ 1913 Webster ]