fishplate
Americannoun
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a metal or wooden plate or slab, bolted to each of two members that have been butted or lapped together.
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Railroads Now Rare. a joint bar.
noun
Etymology
Origin of fishplate
1850–55; fish, alteration of French fiche fastening, derivative of ficher to fasten, fix ( fichu ) + plate 1
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.
Investigators there are still trying to understand how the bolts holding down the fishplate could have come unscrewed or broken, although there is no evidence of sabotage in that case.
From Reuters • Jul. 19, 2013
The same component, known as a fishplate, is blamed for causing the Bretigny-sur-Orge accident.
From Reuters • Jul. 19, 2013
Most of the rail was old chair iron, short, and consequently more time was used in making the change than would have been required had our work been on fishplate rail.
From Scientific American Supplement, No. 623, December 10, 1887 by Various
The fishplate instead of the frog, and the steel rail in place of the good old snakehead!
From Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great - Volume 11 Little Journeys to the Homes of Great Businessmen by Hubbard, Elbert
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.
