Drawplate

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A hardened steel plate pierced with graduated holes through which metal wire or rod is pulled to reduce its diameter
2. A tool made of hardened steel containing tapered openings that wire is drawn through to make it thinner
3. A die plate with a series of progressively smaller holes used to shape and narrow wire during the drawing process

Etymology: A drawplate is a steel plate pierced with a graduated series of holes, through which metal wire or rod is pulled to reduce its diameter and lengthen it. The name is simply a compound of "draw" and "plate": the draw describes the action of pulling the metal through, and the plate is the flat piece of hardened steel that does the shaping. The tool works on the principle that a wire pulled through a hole smaller than itself must thin out to fit, so a series of progressively narrower holes produces wire of exact gauge. The compound is transparent in a way many technical words are not. Because the process of drawing wire has been done for centuries, the tool took its name from the operation itself, with no need for a coined or borrowed term. Nothing about the word is a metaphor or a transferred sense; it names a plate you draw metal through.