word of the day: platen

The word of the day is platen:

Etymology:  < Anglo-Norman and Middle French platine (c1230 in Old French in sense 2; 1347 in sense 1; 1514 in sense 3a; French platine ) and its variant Anglo-Norman platain, plataine, platein, plateine, platene and Middle French plataine (13th cent. in Old French in sense 1; 1280 in Old French in sense 2; earlier in sense ‘gravestone’ (c1165 in Old French); French †plataine ) < plat flat (see plat adv.) + -ine -ine suffix⁴. 

 

1. A plate, often of gold or silver, on which the bread is laid during the celebration of the Eucharist; = paten n. 1. Obs. 

2. A flat plate, usually of metal, having various purposes. Obs. 

3.A metal (formerly wooden) plate in a printing press, which presses the paper against the inked type to obtain an impression; (more generally) a flat surface by means of which pressure is applied in any type of press. Now also in extended use: the glass surface of a photocopier or scanner, on which items are placed to be copied. 

b. In a typewriter and some types of computer printer: a surface (usually a cylindrical roller) against which the paper is held as it is struck by the printing elements.

4. The movable table of a planer, milling machine, or rotary saw. (OED)

"The notes from one to the next frequently had little in common.  They jumped from topic to topic, and only in places were sequentially narrative.  So I always rolled the platen and left blank space after each item to accommodate the scissors that were fundamental to my advanced methodology."

 - John McPhee, "Structure: beyond the picnic-table crisis", 14 January 2013 The New Yorker