a small dish, pan, or vase.-the kneepan; the cap of the knee.-a genus of marine gastropods, including many species of limpets. the shell has the form of a flattened cone. the common european limpet (patella vulgata) is largely used for food.-a kind of apothecium in lichens, which is orbicular, flat, and sessile, and has a special rim not a part of the thallus.