footplate
footplate noun: the metal plate which forms the base platform of a steam locomotive and supports the boiler and the driver's cab, particularly in the United Kingdom.
Noun
footplate (plural footplates)
- The metal plate which forms the base platform of a steam locomotive and supports the boiler and the driver's cab, particularly in the United Kingdom.
- Unlike the earlier standard designs, in which the whole of the footplate was on the engine, fall plates are re-introduced and these are hinged from the front of the tender to rest on the rearward extension of the cab floor.1954 March, “New Class "9" 2-10-0 Locomotives”, in Railway Magazine, page 166
- All the same, nearly eight hours on the footplate covering a distance of 320 miles, with an ambient temperature of up to 103° for much of the time, proved an ordeal which I would not lightly undertake again.1960 October, P. Ransome-Wallis, “Modern motive power of the German Federal Railway: Part Two”, in Trains Illustrated, page 611
- The engineer's cab in any kind of train.
- Kit had fallen into conversation with a footplate man who was deadheading back out to Samarkand, where he lived with his wife and children.2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 845
- The flat portion at the base of the stapes; pedicel.
- The footplate of the stapes develops and ossifies in conjunction with the otic capsule and thus takes its origin from the otic placode in the embryo.2008, Michael Valente, Holly Hosford-Dunn, Ross J. Roeser, Audiology Treatment, page 218
- The part of a roller skate that attaches to the boot.
- A timber in a wood frame that distributes a concentrated load.
- A platform on which the driver's foot rests but which, unlike a pedal, has no effect.
Verb
footplate (third-person singular simple present footplates, present participle footplating, simple past and past participle footplated)
- To travel (or work) on the footplate of a locomotive.
- Hard work is required from men and machines as I was to experience later when footplating Lambton No 5 on five bogies battling its way up Newtondale.1979 August, Michael Harris, “A line for all reasons: the North Yorkshire Moors Railway”, in Railway World, page 415
footplate meaning in Tamil
footplate in Tamil
- இயந்திரத்தில் ஆள்நிற்கும் மேடை
Examples of footplate in a sentence
- And that was the end of my footplate work on this particular weekend.1961 March, 'Balmore', “Driving and firing modern French steam locomotives”, in Trains Illustrated, page 148:
- This uncoupling done, Gimbert opened the regulator as Nightall climbed back onto the footplate, in order to pull the one burning wagon away from the rest of the bomb-laden train.2022 January 12, Benedict le Vay, “The heroes of Soham...”, in RAIL, number 948, page 42:
Forms of footplate
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | footplates |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | footplates |
| present participle | footplating |
| past participle | footplated |
| past | footplated |
Origin of footplate
From foot + plate.
Words formed from footplate
Phrases with footplate
Questions about footplate
- What does footplate mean?
- Footplate means the metal plate which forms the base platform of a steam locomotive and supports the boiler and the driver's cab, particularly in the United Kingdom.
- What is footplate in Tamil?
- Footplate in Tamil is இயந்திரத்தில் ஆள்நிற்கும் மேடை. See Footplate meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use footplate in a sentence?
- And that was the end of my footplate work on this particular weekend.
- What part of speech is footplate?
- Footplate can be a noun or a verb.
- What is the plural of footplate?
- The plural of footplate is footplates.
Words near footplate in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: footplate (page history and authors); footplate (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Wodencafe-footplate.wav.
Cite this entry: “footplate.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/footplate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.