boilerplate

Meanings

1. A sheet of copper or steel used in the construction of a boiler.
2. The rating plate or nameplate required to be affixed to a boiler by the Boiler Explosions Act (1882).
3. A plate attached to industrial machinery, identifying information such as manufacturer, model number, serial number, and power requirements.
4. Syndicated material.
5. Standard text of a legal or official nature added to documents or labels.
6. A standard piece of program code used routinely and added with a text editor or word processor.
7. Formulaic or hackneyed language.
8. Hard, icy snow which may be dangerous for skiing.

1. Describing text or other material of a standard or routine nature.
2. Used to refer to a non-functional spacecraft used to test configuration and procedures.

1. To store standard text so that it can easily be retrieved for reuse.

Etymology

From boiler + plate. First use appears c. 1793 in the periodical Star.

Translations