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
British Dictionary definitions for walk the 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 walk the plank

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 walk the plank

walk the plank

verb phrase

To be destroyed or sacrificed; be fired: Rostow's Deputy Walks the Plank; Rostow Hangs In/ If you don't have the votes, you don't make your friends walk the plank

[1835+; fr the pirate practice of forcing unwanted persons to walk out on a plank and plunge into the sea]


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


Idioms and Phrases with walk the plank

walk the plank

Be forced to resign, as in We were sure that Ted hadn't left of his own accord; he'd walked the plank. This metaphoric idiom alludes to a form of execution used in the 17th century, mainly by pirates, whereby a victim was forced to walk off the end of a board placed on the edge of the ship's deck and so drown. [ Second half of 1800s ]

plank

see: walk the plank