Meaning & use
quarter plate
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountabletechnicalold-fashioned
An old photographic format, a glass or metal plate about 3.25 by 4.25 inches, and the picture or camera made for it.
Grammar: Countable noun, often used before another noun: a quarter-plate camera.
Patterns
- a quarter plate camera
- a quarter plate portrait
The museum owns a quarter plate portrait of a Victorian sailor.
He loaded a quarter plate into the back of the camera.
Quarter plate negatives from the 1890s were found in the attic.
Word forms
| plural | quarter plates |
|---|
Common combinations
- quarter plate camera
- A quarter plate camera sat on a wooden tripod.
- quarter plate negative
- Each quarter plate negative was carefully wrapped in paper.
- quarter plate portrait
- The family kept one quarter plate portrait on the mantelpiece.
- quarter plate size
- Dry plates were sold in quarter plate size to hobbyists.
Synonyms and how they differ
- half plate
- Half plate is a larger format, so it is not a synonym but its nearest neighbour in the series.
Word family
- whole plate noun
- the largest of the standard plate sizes
- half plate noun
- a size between quarter and whole plate
- plate noun
- a sheet used to record a photograph
Commonly confused: quarter plate or quarter-pounder?
quarter plate vs quarter-pounder
A quarter-pounder is a hamburger, not a photographic term.
Practice
A collector describes an old photograph as a 'quarter plate'. What does that mean?
Choose one answer.
Quarter plate names a standard size of early photographic plate. It says nothing about distance, colour or place.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “quarter plate”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.