"plat-eye" meaning in English

See plat-eye in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: plat-eyes [plural]
Etymology: From plat, a term of unknown origin, plus eye. Attested from the 19th century. Originally African-American, especially South Carolina. Etymology templates: {{unk|en|unknown origin}} unknown origin Head templates: {{en-noun}} plat-eye (plural plat-eyes)
  1. A mythical monster or ghost in the folklore of the West Indies and southern United States; it is a being with large, glowing eyes, capable of shapeshifting and sometimes depicted as a phantom bound to a particular place, such as a cave or grove, as a guardian (for buried treasure, etc).
    Sense id: en-plat-eye-en-noun-GohthZnj Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "unknown origin"
      },
      "expansion": "unknown origin",
      "name": "unk"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From plat, a term of unknown origin, plus eye. Attested from the 19th century. Originally African-American, especially South Carolina.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "plat-eyes",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "plat-eye (plural plat-eyes)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
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          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1985, Charles Joyner, quoting Maum Addie, interviewed by Genevieve Willcox Chandler c. 1938, Down by the Riverside: A South Carolina Slave Community, page 152:",
          "text": "De ole folks is talk bout Plat-eye. Dey say dey takes shape ob all kind de critter",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A mythical monster or ghost in the folklore of the West Indies and southern United States; it is a being with large, glowing eyes, capable of shapeshifting and sometimes depicted as a phantom bound to a particular place, such as a cave or grove, as a guardian (for buried treasure, etc)."
      ],
      "id": "en-plat-eye-en-noun-GohthZnj",
      "links": [
        [
          "mythical",
          "mythical"
        ],
        [
          "monster",
          "monster"
        ],
        [
          "ghost",
          "ghost"
        ],
        [
          "folklore",
          "folklore"
        ],
        [
          "West Indies",
          "West Indies"
        ],
        [
          "United States",
          "United States"
        ],
        [
          "shapeshifting",
          "shapeshifting"
        ],
        [
          "phantom",
          "phantom"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "plat-eye"
}
{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
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      },
      "expansion": "unknown origin",
      "name": "unk"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From plat, a term of unknown origin, plus eye. Attested from the 19th century. Originally African-American, especially South Carolina.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "plat-eyes",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "plat-eye (plural plat-eyes)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
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  "senses": [
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        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
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        "English terms with unknown etymologies",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries"
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1985, Charles Joyner, quoting Maum Addie, interviewed by Genevieve Willcox Chandler c. 1938, Down by the Riverside: A South Carolina Slave Community, page 152:",
          "text": "De ole folks is talk bout Plat-eye. Dey say dey takes shape ob all kind de critter",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A mythical monster or ghost in the folklore of the West Indies and southern United States; it is a being with large, glowing eyes, capable of shapeshifting and sometimes depicted as a phantom bound to a particular place, such as a cave or grove, as a guardian (for buried treasure, etc)."
      ],
      "links": [
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        [
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        ],
        [
          "folklore",
          "folklore"
        ],
        [
          "West Indies",
          "West Indies"
        ],
        [
          "United States",
          "United States"
        ],
        [
          "shapeshifting",
          "shapeshifting"
        ],
        [
          "phantom",
          "phantom"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "plat-eye"
}

Download raw JSONL data for plat-eye meaning in English (1.6kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-03-26 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-03-21 using wiktextract (fef8596 and 633533e). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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