plastron

[plas-truh n]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR plastron ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a piece of plate armor for the upper part of the torso in front.

Fencing. a quilted pad worn over part of the torso, for protection.

an ornamental front piece of a woman's bodice.

the starched front of a shirt.

Zoology. the ventral part of the shell of a turtle.

Origin of plastron

1500–10; < Middle French < Italian piastrone, augmentative of piastra metal plate, piaster. See plaster

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for plastron

case, integument, scale, skeleton, chassis, hull, frame, shard, shuck, framework, husk, skin, pod, crust, nut, pericarp, plastron, carapace

Examples from the Web for plastron

Historical Examples of plastron

The carapace and plastron are usually connected by a "bridge" of bone.
Zoology: The Science of Animal Life
Ernest Ingersoll
The plastron is joined to the carapace by the sutures of the bridge.
Natural History of the Ornate Box Turtle, Terrapene ornata ornata Agassiz
John M. Legler
The reptile, aware of danger, had retired between its carapace and plastron.
Abandoned
Jules Verne
The use of a species of corslet, (plastron,) to prevent future pressure on the abdomen.
North American Medical and Surgical Journal, Vol. 2, No. 3, July, 1826
Various
I had myself a great silver bowl, with two goblets, and a plastron of Spanish steel.
The White Company
Arthur Conan Doyle

British Dictionary definitions for plastron

plastron

noun

the bony plate forming the ventral part of the shell of a tortoise or turtle

Derived Formsplastral, adjective

Word Origin for plastron

C16: via French from Italian piastrone, from piastra breastplate, from Latin emplastrum plaster

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for plastron

c.1500, from Middle French plastron "breastplate," from Italian piastrone, augmentative of piastra "breastplate, thin metal plate" (see piaster). As an animal part, from 1813; as an article of dress, 1876.