1. A pattern or gauge, such as a thin metal plate with a cut pattern, used as a guide in making something accurately, as in woodworking or the carving of architectural profiles.
2. Computer Science.
   1. A document or file having a preset format, used as a starting point for a particular application so that the format does not have to be recreated each time it is used: a loan amortization template for a spreadsheet program.
   2. An overlay that fits over all or part of a keyboard and has labels describing the functions of each key within a particular application.
3. A horizontal piece of stone or timber used to distribute weight or pressure, as over a door frame.
4. Biochemistry. A molecule of a nucleic acid, such as DNA, that serves as a pattern for the synthesis of a macromolecule, as of RNA.

[Probably from French templet, diminutive of temple, temple of a loom. See temple³.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.