TerryF on 13 May 2006  •  Link

plats

Short Form:
the determination and physical protraction of land boundaries, together with the attendant preparation of legal (title) descriptions and plats which bear witness for posterity and become part of the public record to chronicle the acts and wishes of landowners.
http://surveying.mentabolism.org/…

(Robert Hooke micromanaged this for individual properties in London after the Great Fire of 1666 before he and Sir Christopher Wren were commissioned to design the new City.)

TerryF on 13 May 2006  •  Link

Plat (correction)

JWB on 13 May 2006  •  Link

Platt
In this case, I think Sam means "chart"-"...to understand the lines, and how to find how lands bear...".

in Aqua Scripto on 14 May 2006  •  Link

Plat := OED there be 6 nouns and 4 verbs versions, etc., plat as in I plat thee around the Probiscus; Plat as in in flat, as in flat side of a sword or it could be thy hair be platted [plait] then there be plat as in plot, ah there be those accents.
then Sam's meaning?
2. A plan or diagram of anything; esp. a ground-plan of a building or of any part of the earth's surface; a draught, design, map, chart; = PLOT

flat > planus >adj level flat ; plain clear nt level ground ; Planus -i m imposter; Platea,-ae f street:

Some bits robbed from the OED:
N1] plat meaning one; smack resounding blow

I. A flat thing, part, or surface.
2a. The flat of a sword, as opposed to the edge (obs.);

b. A platform. Obs.
a. A place, spot, point of space; a locality or situation. (Cf. PLAT n.3 1.) Obs. exc. dial.

1608 WILLET Hexapla Exod. 731 They had stayed 40. daies in a plat.
1662 W. GURNALL Chr. in Arm. verse 18. I. liii. 419/1 He turns himself on his bed..not an easie plat that he can find in it.
b. A ‘place’ or part of a surface, as of the body; cf. PLOT n. 1. Obs.
1642 ROGERS Naaman 35 And did cause each face to waxe pale, and each hand to be on the pained plat.
1658 W. GURNALL Chr. in Arm. verse 14. II. xviii. (1669) 68/2 If there be but one sore plat.
n3]
I. = PLOT n. 2 (which is found earlier).
1. A piece or area of ground (usually) of small extent; a patch. Often with a word defining its nature or character, as grass-plat, plat of grass.
1632 MILTON Penseroso 73 Oft on a Plat of rising ground, I hear the far-off Curfeu sound.
1667 ... P.L. IX. 456 This flourie Plat, the sweet recess of Eve.
II. = PLOT n. 3-6 (in which plat is earlier).
2. A plan or diagram of anything; esp. a ground-plan of a building or of any part of the earth's surface; a draught, design, map, chart; = PLOT n. 3.to set down in plat: to map down, make a plan of (obs.).

1598 HAKLUYT Voy. I. 437 To note all the Islands, and to set them downe in plat.
1659 MOXON Tutor to Astron. (1686) Pref., Globes, Maps, Platts, and Sea-drafts of New discoveries.
1669 STURMY Mariner's Mag. IV. xv. 196 To prick the same down in a Blank Chart or Mercator's Plat.
. fig. A plan or scheme of the actual or proposed arrangement of anything; an outline, a sketch; also, arrangement, disposition. Cf. PLOT n. 4. Obs.

4. A plan of action or proceeding in some undertaking; a scheme, design; = PLOT n. 5. Obs.
a1656 USSHER Ann. vi. (1658) 264 He saw that plat fit to serve for a bridle in the mouths of the neighbouring nations.
A contexture of interlaced hair, straw, etc.; = PLAIT
n. 2. (In last quot. = straw-plait.)
2. Naut. (See quots.)
1678 PHILLIPS (ed. 4), Plats [ed. 1706 Platts], (in Navigation) are certain flat Ropes, by which the Cable in the Hause, is preserved from Galling.
2. Naut. (See quots.)
flat bottom boat
1669 STURMY Mariner's Mag., Penalties & Forfeitures 4 If any Hoy or Plat cross the Seas.
44 Duas Naves vocatas Playtes, quandam Navem vocatam a Cogship.
1. trans. To buffet, slap, smack; to strike, knock.
[ME. platte, f. PLAT a. Cf. Du. pletten, Ger. platten, plätten to flatten, smooth; also OF. plat(t)ir (f. plat adj.) to flatten, throw down flat (Chr. de Pisan), lie flat.]
I. 1. trans. To lay, throw, or cause to fall flat (on the ground, on one's face, back, knees, etc.); to spread flat, smooth, or even; to press flat.
. trans. To intertwine, intertwist; to plait (hair, straw, etc.); to form (hats, etc.) by plaiting; = PLAIT v. 2. Now a less usual spelling than PLAIT (which, however, in this sense, is usually pronounced plat).
1687 RANDOLPH Archip. 39 They have their hair plated [cf. ibid. which serves for a pettycoat..being plaited very thick].
. To fold, gather in folds; = PLAIT v. 1, PLEAT v. Obs. rare.
1687 A. LOVELL tr. Thevenot's Trav. III. 36 Silk breeches..so long that they must be plated upon the Leg.
[In origin, a collateral form of PLOT v.1: cf. PLAT n.3]
1. trans. To plan; to sketch. to plat forth, to sketch out a plan of (something to be made). Obs.
1609 HOLLAND Amm. Marcell 387 Plotting and platting as long examinations as possibly they can to protract the time.
2. To arrange or lay out on some plan. Obs.
1577-87 HOLINSHED Chron. III. 907/1 The court was platted in tables and benches in manner of a consistorie.
3. To make a plan of, to lay down on a plan or chart; to draw to scale, so as to calculate distances, area, etc.; = PLOT v.1 3. Now only U.S.

Stolzi on 14 May 2006  •  Link

Plat - a familiar word here -
my father was a civil engineer and land-surveyor, so I heard about them from earliest years.

Patricia Hayes on 2 Jul 2009  •  Link

Plates: Copperplate etchings
Ref: http://www.lexic.us/definition-of…

3. The Romance of Madame Tussaud's by John Theodore Tussaud (1920)
"... copperplates —three of them etched by Queen Victoria and one by the Prince Consort. ‘Of the four plates, three were done by the Queen within a year of ..."

Bill on 13 May 2016  •  Link

PLATTS, [among Navigators] Brass Compasses made use of in Maps or Charts.
---An universal etymological English dictionary. N. Bailey, 1724.

Bill on 26 Oct 2017  •  Link

PLATTS [in a ship] Rope made of Rope Yarn to keep a Cable from galling.
PLATTS [among navigators] Brass Compasse made use of in Map or Charts.
---N. Bailey. An universal etymological English dictionary (20th ed.), 1763

PLAT. A name formerly given to what seamen now call foxes.
FOX. A seizing made by twisting together two or more short lengths of rope yarn with the hand. 'A Spanish fox is made by untwisting a single yarn and laying it up the contrary way.' (Dana's Seaman's Manual)
---A. Young. Nautical Dictionary, 1863