Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Palate
Pal′ate
,Noun.
[L.
palatum
: cf. F. palais
, Of. also palat
.] 1.
(Anat.)
The roof of the mouth.
☞ 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.
Pal′ate
,Verb.
T.
To perceive by the taste.
[Obs.]
Shak.
Webster 1828 Edition
Palate
PAL'ATE
,Noun.
1.
The roof or upper part of the mouth. The glands in this part of the mouth secrete a mucous fluid, which lubricates the mouth and throat, and facilitates deglutition.2.
Taste. Hard task to hit the palates of such guests.
[This signification of the word originated in the opinion that the palate is the instrument of taste. This is a mistake. In itself it has no power of taste.]
3.
Mental relish; intellectual taste. Men of nice palates could not relish Aristotle, as dressed up by the schoolmen.
PAL'ATE
,Verb.
T.