paten

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A plate, usually of gold or silver, that is used to hold the host during the celebration of the Eucharist. Also called patina¹.
2. n. A plate or shallow dish, especially an artifact from an ancient civilization.
3. n. A thin disk of or resembling metal.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A broad shallow dish; a bowl.
2. n. Eccles., a plate or flat dish; in the communion service of certain liturgical churches, the plate on which the consecrated bread is placed. In the primitive church the paten was an ordinary plate; but when wafers expressly prepared took the place of bread, the paten became an ecclesiastical vessel. It is wide and shallow, and is generally made of silver, but sometimes of glass, gold, alabaster, agate, or other hard material. In the Roman Catholic Church the paten must be of the same material as the accompanying chalice, of sonic hard metal, the inside of which is heavily glided, and, like the chalice, it must be consecrated by the bishop.
3. n. A plate, as of metal.
4. n. An obsolete form of patten.
5. n. An iron plate used in making plate-armor.

Wiktionary

1. n. The plate used to hold the host during the Eucharist.
2. n. archaeology Any shallow dish found in an archaeological site.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. obsolete A plate.
2. n. (Eccl.) The place on which the consecrated bread is placed in the Eucharist, or on which the host is placed during the Mass. It is usually small, and formed as to fit the chalice, or cup, as a cover.