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Webster 1913 Edition

Palate

Pal′ate

,
Noun.
[L.
palatum
: cf. F.
palais
, Of. also
palat
.]
1.
(Anat.)
The roof of the mouth.
☞ The fixed portion, or palate proper, supported by the maxillary and palatine bones, is called the hard palate to distinguish it from the membranous and muscular curtain which separates the cavity of the mouth from the pharynx and is called the soft palate, or velum.
2.
Relish; taste; liking; – a sense originating in the mistaken notion that the palate is the organ of taste.
Hard task! to hit the
palate
of such guests.
Pope.
3.
Fig.:
Mental relish; intellectual taste.
T. Baker.
4.
(Bot.)
A projection in the throat of such flowers as the snapdragon.

Pal′ate

,
Verb.
T.
To perceive by the taste.
[Obs.]
Shak.

Webster 1828 Edition

Palate

PAL'ATE

,
Noun.
[L. palatum, properly the arch or cope of heaven.]
1.
The roof or upper part of the mouth. The glands in this part of the mouth secrete a mucous fluid, which lubricates the mouth and throat, and facilitates deglutition.
2.
Taste.
Hard task to hit the palates of such guests.
[This signification of the word originated in the opinion that the palate is the instrument of taste. This is a mistake. In itself it has no power of taste.]
3.
Mental relish; intellectual taste.
Men of nice palates could not relish Aristotle, as dressed up by the schoolmen.

PAL'ATE

,
Verb.
T.
To perceive by the taste. [Not used.]

Definition 2024

palate

palate

English

Noun

palate ‎(plural palates)

  1. (anatomy) The roof of the mouth; the uraniscus.
  2. The sense of taste.
  3. (figuratively) relish; taste; liking (from the mistaken notion that the palate is the organ of taste)
    • Alexander Pope
      Hard task! to hit the palate of such guests.
  4. (figuratively) Mental relish; intellectual taste.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of T. Baker to this entry?)
  5. (botany) A projection in the throat of such flowers as the snapdragon.

Translations

Derived terms

Verb

palate ‎(third-person singular simple present palates, present participle palating, simple past and past participle palated)

  1. (nonstandard) To relish; to find palatable.
    • Wired
      "If it’s way out there, it’s hard to palate," said Sreenivasan.

Anagrams

Italian

Noun

palate f

  1. plural of palata

Verb

palate

  1. second-person plural present indicative of palare
  2. second-person plural imperative of palare
  3. Feminine plural of palato

Anagrams

Latin

Verb

pālāte

  1. first-person plural present active imperative of pālō

Romanian

Noun

palate n pl

  1. plural of palat

Etymology

From Middle English, from Old French palat, from Latin palātum ‎(“roof of the mouth, palate”), perhaps of Etruscan origin.

Pronunciation

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