Ob·jec·tive a.
 1. Of or pertaining to an object.
 2. Metaph. Of or pertaining to an object; contained in, or having the nature or position of, an object; outward; external; extrinsic; -- an epithet applied to whatever is exterior to the mind, or which is simply an object of thought or feeling, as opposed to being related to thoughts of feelings, and opposed to subjective.
    In the Middle Ages, subject meant substance, and has this sense in Descartes and Spinoza: sometimes, also, in Reid.  Subjective is used by William of Occam to denote that which exists independent of mind; objective, what is formed by the mind.  This shows what is meant by realitas objectiva in Descartes.  Kant and Fichte have inverted the meanings.  Subject, with them, is the mind which knows; object, that which is known; subjective, the varying conditions of the knowing mind; objective, that which is in the constant nature of the thing known.   --Trendelenburg.
    Objective has come to mean that which has independent existence or authority, apart from our experience or thought.  Thus, moral law is said to have objective authority, that is, authority belonging to itself, and not drawn from anything in our nature.   --Calderwood (Fleming's Vocabulary).
    Objective means that which belongs to, or proceeds from, the object known, and not from the subject knowing, and thus denotes what is real, in opposition to that which is ideal -- what exists in nature, in contrast to what exists merely in the thought of the individual.   --Sir. W. Hamilton.
 4. Gram. Pertaining to, or designating, the case which follows a transitive verb or a preposition, being that case in which the direct object of the verb is placed. See Accusative, n.
 Note: ☞ The objective case is frequently used without a governing word, esp. in designations of time or space, where a preposition, as at, in, on, etc., may be supplied.
    My troublous dream [on] this night doth make me sad.   --Shak.
    To write of victories [in or for] next year.   --Hudibras.
 Objective line Perspective, a line drawn on the geometrical plane which is represented or sought to be represented.
 Objective plane Perspective, any plane in the horizontal plane that is represented.
 Objective point, the point or result to which the operations of an army are directed.  By extension, the point or purpose to which anything, as a journey or an argument, is directed.
 Syn: -- Objective, Subjective.
 Usage: Objective is applied to things exterior to the mind, and objects of its attention; subjective, to the operations of the mind itself. Hence, an objective motive is some outward thing awakening desire; a subjective motive is some internal feeling or propensity. Objective views are those governed by outward things; subjective views are produced or modified by internal feeling.  Sir Walter Scott's poetry is chiefly objective; that of Wordsworth is eminently subjective.
    In the philosophy of mind, subjective denotes what is to be referred to the thinking subject, the ego; objective what belongs to the object of thought, the non-ego.   --Sir. W. Hamilton


 Plane, n.
 1. Geom. A surface, real or imaginary, in which, if any two points are taken, the straight line which joins them lies wholly in that surface; or a surface, any section of which by a like surface is a straight line; a surface without curvature.
 2. Astron. An ideal surface, conceived as coinciding with, or containing, some designated astronomical line, circle, or other curve; as, the plane of an orbit; the plane of the ecliptic, or of the equator.
 3. Mech. A block or plate having a perfectly flat surface, used as a standard of flatness; a surface plate.
 4. Joinery A tool for smoothing boards or other surfaces of wood, for forming moldings, etc. It consists of a smooth-soled stock, usually of wood, from the under side or face of which projects slightly the steel cutting edge of a chisel, called the iron, which inclines backward, with an apperture in front for the escape of shavings; as, the jack plane; the smoothing plane; the molding plane, etc.
 Objective plane Surv., the horizontal plane upon which the object which is to be delineated, or whose place is to be determined, is supposed to stand.
 Perspective plane. See Perspective.
 Plane at infinity Geom., a plane in which points infinitely distant are conceived as situated.
 Plane iron, the cutting chisel of a joiner's plane.
 Plane of polarization. Opt. See Polarization.
 Plane of projection. (a) The plane on which the projection is made, corresponding to the perspective plane in perspective; -- called also principal plane. (b) Descriptive Geom. One of the planes to which points are referred for the purpose of determining their relative position in space.
 Plane of refraction or Plane of reflection Opt., the plane in which lie both the incident ray and the refracted or reflected ray.