plank

[plangk] /plæŋk/
noun
1.
a long, flat piece of timber, thicker than a board.
2.
lumber in such pieces; planking.
3.
something to stand on or to cling to for support.
4.
any one of the stated principles or objectives comprising the political platform of a party campaigning for election:
They fought for a plank supporting a nuclear freeze.
verb (used with object)
5.
to lay, cover, or furnish with planks.
6.
to bake or broil and serve (steak, fish, chicken, etc.) on a wooden board.
7.
plunk (def 2).
Idioms
8.
walk the plank,
  1. to be forced, as by pirates, to walk to one's death by stepping off a plank extending from the ship's side over the water.
  2. to relinquish something, as a position, office, etc., under compulsion:
    We suspect that the new vice-president walked the plank because of a personality clash.
Origin
1275-1325; Middle English planke < Old North French < Latin planca board, plank. See planch
Related forms
plankless, adjective
planklike, adjective
unplanked, adjective
Examples from the web for plank
  • But it rose again, with license plates for wallpaper and faded buoys hanging plank to plank.
  • Mingle tastes from the forest and the sea by grilling fresh salmon on a cedar plank.
  • Emerging markets' trade problems have been worsened by shifts in capital flows, globalisation's second big plank.
  • Fish of the day are stuffed with herbs and roasted on a cedar plank.
  • Her main campaign plank is a proposal for tax credits for companies that promise to hire more workers.
  • Even if you don't believe a single plank of the party platform.
  • Sadly, that is the standard for whether a plank makes it into a party's platform.
  • But the government is making it a central plank of its foreign policy.
  • Walking the plank might a more apt metaphor for such an event.
  • Public employees across the country are walking the plank by the tens of thousands.
British Dictionary definitions for plank

plank1

/plæŋk/
noun
1.
a stout length of sawn timber
2.
something that supports or sustains
3.
one of the policies in a political party's programme
4.
walk the plank, to be forced by pirates to walk to one's death off the end of a plank jutting out over the water from the side of a ship
5.
(Brit, slang) a stupid person; idiot
verb (transitive)
6.
to cover or provide (an area) with planks
7.
to beat (meat) to make it tender
8.
(mainly US & Canadian) to cook or serve (meat or fish) on a special wooden board
Word Origin
C13: from Old Norman French planke, from Late Latin planca board, from plancus flat-footed; probably related to Greek plax flat surface

plank2

/plæŋk/
verb
1.
(transitive) (Scot) to hide; cache
Word Origin
C19: a variant of plant
Word Origin and History for plank
n.

late 13c. (c.1200 as a surname), from Old North French planke, variant of Old French planche "plank, slab, little wooden bridge" (12c.), from Late Latin planca "broad slab, board," probably from Latin plancus "flat, flat-footed," from PIE *plak- (1) "to be flat" (see placenta). Technically, timber sawed to measure 2 to 6 inches thick, 9 inches or more wide, and 8 feet or more long. Political sense of "item of a party platform" is U.S. coinage from 1848. To walk the plank, supposedly a pirate punishment, is first attested 1789 and most early references are to slave-traders disposing of excess human cargo in crossing the ocean.

Slang definitions & phrases for plank

plank 1

verb

To do the sex act with or to; screw: had witless good fun with his children while his wife was out getting planked

[1970s+; origin unknown]


plank 2

Related Terms

walk the plank


plunk down

verb phrase
  1. To put down with a thud or crash; place decisively: an overstuffed chair some admirer had planked down next to the booth
  2. To pay money; put down or put up money; offer or bet money: planked down a cool $8,000,000/ plunked down $65,000

[1839+; fr the hard striking of the plank of a table]


Idioms and Phrases with plank

plank

see: walk the plank