platform noun [Plat, a. + -form: cf. F. plateforme.]

1. A plat; a plan; a sketch; a model; a pattern. Used also figuratively. [Obs.] Bacon.

2. A place laid out after a model. [Obs.]

lf the platform just reflects the order. Pope.

3. Any flat or horizontal surface; especially, one that is raised above some particular level, as a framework of timber or boards horizontally joined so as to form a roof, or a raised floor, or portion of a floor; a landing; a dais; a stage, for speakers, performers, or workmen; a standing place.

4. A declaration of the principles upon which a person, a sect, or a party proposes to stand; a declared policy or system; as, the Saybrook platform; a political platform.

“The platform of Geneva.” Hooker.

5. (Naut.) A light deck, usually placed in a section of the hold or over the floor of the magazine. See Orlop.

Platform car

a railway car without permanent raised sides or covering; a flat.

Platform scale

a weighing machine, with a flat platform on which objects are weighed.

Plat′formˊ transitive verb

1. To place on a platform. [R.]

2. To form a plan of; to model; to lay out. [Obs.]

Church discipline is platformed in the Bible. Milton.

-- Webster's unabridged 1913