dry plate
Americannoun
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a glass photographic plate coated with a sensitive emulsion of silver bromide and silver iodide in gelatin.
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Metallurgy. tin plate having patches of dull finish.
Etymology
Origin of dry plate
First recorded in 1855–60
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.
Oxymel produced a dry plate that could be kept for days.
From New York Times ● Feb. 6, 2014
“You’ll have a new barn in no time,” I said, wiping an already dry plate with a towel.
From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson
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When the lid is replaced this slide is removed, and as the shutter is made to revolve, the light falls upon whatever portion of the dry plate happens to be opposite the opening.
From Scientific American Supplement, No. 561, October 2, 1886 by Various
An occasional lone poplar tree developed in the mist as an object on a dry plate develops.
From The Killer by Stewart Edward White
Our photographic outfit was extremely bulky and heavy, for the dry plate had not been invented.
From A Canyon Voyage The Narrative of the Second Powell Expedition down the Green-Colorado River from Wyoming, and the Explorations on Land, in the Years 1871 and 1872 by Frederick Samuel Dellenbaugh
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.