platen

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The roller in a typewriter that serves as the backing for the paper against which the type bars strike.
2. n. Computer Science The roller in a printer against which the print head strikes.
3. n. A flat plate or rolling cylinder in a printing press that positions the paper and holds it against the inked type.
4. n. The glass surface of a flatbed scanner.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. In printing, the flat part of a press which comes down upon the form, and by which the impression is made
2. n. An alloy used in making buttons, composed of eight parts of copper and five parts of zinc.
3. n. The feed-roll of a typewriter against which the paper rests while receiving an impression.
4. n. The table of a machine-tool to which the piece to be cut is fastened.

Wiktionary

1. n. The part of a printing press which presses the paper against the type and by which the impression is made.
2. n. The part of a typewriter or printer on which the paper rests to receive an impression.
3. n. The movable table of a planer or other machine tool, on which the work is fastened, and presented to the action of the tool.
4. n. The flat glass surface of a scanner or photocopier on which operators place items to be scanned.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The part of a printing press which presses the paper against the type and by which the impression is made.
2. n. Hence, an analogous part of a typewriter, on which the paper rests to receive an impression.
3. n. The movable table of a machine tool, as a planer, on which the work is fastened, and presented to the action of the tool; -- also called table.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. the roller on a typewriter against which the keys strike
2. n. work table of a machine tool
3. n. the flat plate of a printing press that presses the paper against the type