dish

plural dishes

1. countableuncountableA vessel such as a plate for holding or serving food, often flat with a depressed region in the middle.

   She brought forth butter in a lordly dish.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Judges v:25

   Synonyms: plate

2. countableuncountableThe contents of such a vessel.

   a dish of stew

   Synonyms: dishful, plate, plateful

3. countablemetonymicallyuncountableA specific type of prepared food.

   a vegetable dish

   2 more examples

   this dish is filling and easily made

   Let's carve him a dish fit for the gods

   1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]

4. countablein pluraluncountableTableware (including cutlery, etc, as well as crockery) that is to be or is being washed after being used to prepare, serve and eat a meal.

   It's your turn to wash the dishes.

5. countableuncountablecommunicationsA type of antenna with a similar shape to a plate or bowl.

   radar dish

   1 more example

   satellite dish

6. countabledatedinformaluncountableSomething that fits someone's tastes, interests, or abilities.

   Going to the club is not my dish.

   1 more example

   Literacy is not every man’s dish. A teacher trying to persuade Arab men in North Africa to let their wives learn to read so that they can write letters was pointedly asked by one husband: “To whom?”

   1965 November 19, “Illiteracy: The Uncomprehending 40%”, in Time, volume 86, number 21, page 67

   Synonyms: cup of tea, affinity, bag, bent, love, cup of coffee, cup of joe, cup of tea

7. countableslanguncountableA sexually attractive person.

   quite a dish

   1 more example

   Have you seen the new apothecary? I think her name is Sadie. What a dish!

   1993, Westwood Studios, Lands of Lore: The Throne of Chaos, Virgin Games

   Synonyms: babe, fox

8. countabledateduncountableThe state of being concave, like a dish, or the degree of such concavity.

   the dish of a wheel

9. countableuncountableA hollow place, as in a field.

   As I topped the ridge I missed my first shot at a sharptail that flushed from a grassy dish.

   1980, Nebraskaland

   2 more examples

   He and Stratemeier raced across the flats and dropped into the canyon, climbed swiftly through it and came out at the topside trail , which went straight south through the timber until it dropped into a small grassy dish surrounded by rock peaks.

   1987 02, Brian Garfield, The Arizonans, Bantam, →ISBN

   Daylight revealed that the so-called summit was near the edge of a shallow, stony dish, which terminated abruptly in steep slopes, and actually offered poor fields of fire.

   2006 September 14, Richard Holmes, Martin Marix Evans, A Guide to Battles: Decisive Conflicts in History, OUP Oxford, →ISBN

10. countableslanguncountableball gamesThe home plate.

    He said, "I don't like your chances at the dish [home plate] tonight."

    2008, Paul Byrd, Free Byrd: The Power of a Liberated Life, page 4

    2 more examples

    At the plate, Graham pounded the dish three times, just like Bubbles did whenever he was up, […]

    2009, Loren Long, Phil Bildner, Magic in the Outfield, page 40

    Also, if you end up getting to the baseball, your pitcher needs to be covering home plate, which pitchers occasionally forget to do. However, if the ball stays near the dish and you have a pitcher on the mound who isn't a space-case, you've got a good shot to get the runner out.

    2014, Conor Kelley, The Catcher's Handbook, page 87

11. archaiccountableuncountablebusinessA trough in which ore is measured.
12. archaiccountableuncountablebusinessThat portion of the produce of a mine which is paid to the land owner or proprietor.
13. slanguncountableGossip.

    We've been a very lucky community: We've had GCN to collect our deep dish and write it up as political discourse. GCN is not just another clipboard of polite press releases. GCN is the sticky questions, the sweet moments, and the dirty stories that make up our lives.

    1989 December 24, Abe Rybeck, “Liberation Without Permission, Pleasure Without Apology”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 24, page 5

present singular third person dishes · participle present dishing · participle past dished · past dished

1. transitiveTo put in a dish or dishes; serve, usually food.
2. informalslangTo gossip; to relay information about the personal situation of another.
3. slangTo insult, speak ill of.

   In the car with you I heard Joe's voice ― complaining about how invisible black people still are to whites; praising artists we admire; dishing someone's bad taste; planning future adventures; […]

   1989 February 5, Jewelle Gomez, “Journey”, in Gay Community News, volume 16, number 29, page 9

4. transitiveTo make concave, or depress in the middle, like a dish.

   to dish a wheel by inclining the spokes

5. archaicslangtransitiveTo frustrate; to beat; to outwit or defeat.

   Have the Tories "dished the Whigs"?

   1867, The British Controversialist and Literary Magazine, page 460

1. abbreviationuncountableAbbreviation of diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis.

1. A town in Denton County, Texas, United States.

   Synonyms: Clark