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9 dictionary results for: Palate

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

pal·ate

[pal-it] Pronunciation Key

–noun

1.	Anatomy. the roof of the mouth, consisting of an anterior bony portion (hard palate) and a posterior muscular portion (soft palate) that separate the oral cavity from the nasal cavity.

2.	the sense of taste: a dinner to delight the palate.

3.	intellectual or aesthetic taste; mental appreciation.

[Origin: 1350–1400; ME palat < L palātum roof of the mouth

]

—Related forms

pal·ate·less, adjective

pal·ate·like, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

pal·ate (pāl'ĭt) Pronunciation Key
n.

The roof of the mouth in vertebrates having a complete or partial separation of the oral and nasal cavities and consisting of the hard palate and the soft palate.
Botany The projecting part on the lower lip of a bilabiate corolla that closes the throat, as in a snapdragon.
The sense of taste: delicacies pleasing to the most refined palate.

[Middle English, from Old French palat, from Latin palātum, perhaps of Etruscan origin.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
palate

1382, "roof of the mouth," from O.Fr. palat, from L. palatum "roof of the mouth," perhaps of Etruscan origin. Popularly considered the seat of taste, hence transferred meaning "sense of taste" (1526). Palatable "good-tasting" is attested from 1669.

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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

palate
noun
the upper surface of the mouth that separates the oral and nasal cavities

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The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

palate (pāl'ĭt) Pronunciation Key

The roof of the mouth in vertebrate animals, separating the mouth from the passages of the nose. The bony part of the palate is called the hard palate. A soft, flexible, rear portion of the palate, called the soft palate, is present in mammals only and serves to close off the mouth from the nose during swallowing.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
palate [(pal-uht)]

The roof of the mouth. The palate separates the mouth from the nasal cavity.

Note: It is sometimes said that a person has a “cultivated palate” if he or she has a discerning taste for food.

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American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

palate pal·ate (pāl'ĭt)
n.
The bony and muscular partition between the oral and nasal cavities; the roof of the mouth.

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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Palate

Pal"ate\, n. [L. palatum: cf. F. palais, Of. also palat.]

1. (Anat.) The roof of the mouth.

Note: 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.

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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Palate

Pal"ate\, v. t. To perceive by the taste. [Obs.] --Shak.

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