First recorded in 1600–10
First recorded in 1870–75
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Theodolite and plane table work are not suited to very cold climates.
From South with Scott by Mountevans, Edward Ratcliffe Garth Russell Evans, baron
The word is found in some older English Dictionaries, and in France and Italy is still applied to the traversing index of a plane table or of a sextant.
From The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 1 by Yule, Henry
Each morning he was away with his plane-table and squad of coolies long before our breakfast was served, seldom reaching camp before nightfall.
From Mount Everest the Reconnaissance, 1921 by Howard-Bury, Charles Kenneth
On this pass, whilst taking some plane-table observations, I was within an ace of being detected from an unexpected quarter.
From Memoir of William Watts McNair by Howard, J. E.
"Orienting a Map," said Hamilton, "as I have explained to you a thousand times, means setting your map or plane-table so that the north line lies north."
From The Keepers of the King's Peace by Wallace, Edgar
This map was a plane-table sketch, prepared by an engineer officer shortly before the action.
From History of the War in South Africa 1899-1902 v. 1 (of 4) Compiled by Direction of His Majesty's Government by Great Britain. War Office
Stillwell commenced a contoured plane-table survey of the neighbourhood of Winter Quarters.
From The Home of the Blizzard Being the Story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914 by Mawson, Douglas, Sir
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.
