tie plate
noun Railroads.
a plate set between the base of a rail and a crosstie to distribute the rail load over a greater area of the tie and thus reduce wear and damage to it.
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Why are some letters tied together?It is hard to remember that fonts originated in handwriting, but occasionally reminders, like ligatures, pop up. “Ligature” literally means to bind or tie up, so when two letters are tied together in script, it is called a ligature. Medieval scribes combined letters that shared some part, so they could write faster and conserve space on the page. For example, rather than write fi, they combined the tittle …
Nearby words
- tie into,
- tie into knots,
- tie line,
- tie one on,
- tie one's hands,
- tie plug,
- tie rod,
- tie tack,
- tie the knot,
- tie up
Origin of tie plate
First recorded in 1870–75
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019