PLANK • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Plank

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/plæŋk/ Listen

noun

Plank n.

1.

A broad piece of sawed timber, differing from a board only in being thicker. See Board.

2.

Fig.: That which supports or upholds, as a board does a swimmer. "His charity is a better plank than the faith of an intolerant and bitter-minded bigot."

3.

One of the separate articles in a declaration of the principles of a party or cause; as, a plank in the national platform. (Cant)

Plank road, or Plank way, a road surface formed of planks. (U.S.)

To walk the plank, to walk along a plank laid across the bulwark of a ship, until one overbalances it and falls into the sea; a method of disposing of captives practiced by pirates.

verb

Plank v. t. (past & past part. planked; pres. part. planking)

1.

To cover or lay with planks; as, to plank a floor or a ship. "Planked with pine."

2.

To lay down, as on a plank or table; to stake or pay cash; as, to plank money in a wager. (Colloq. U.S.)

3.

To harden, as hat bodies, by felting.

4.

(Wooden Manuf.) To splice together the ends of slivers of wool, for subsequent drawing.

Planked shad, shad split open, fastened to a plank, and roasted before a wood fire.

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Etymology of 'Plank'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Plank" Quotes from Famous Books

... assembly, which is the true cause of the display of energy. What happened in the Convention after the fall of Robespierre and the terrible Committee of Public Safety proves this, as well as the Chambers of 1815. Now, if the dictatorial power, placed in the hands of a few, has always been a plank of safety in great crises, it seems natural to draw the conclusion that countries controlled by elective assemblies must be politically and militarily weaker than pure monarchies, although in other ...

— The Art of War • Baron Henri de Jomini

... helmet, which was unscrewed and lay on the deck near his heavily-weighted feet. The dress was wet, and the man was enjoying a quiet pipe, from all which Edgar judged that he was resting after a dive. Near to the plank on which the diver was seated there stood the chest containing the air-pumps. It was open, the pumps were in working order, with two men standing by to work them. Coils of india-rubber tubing lay beside it. Elsewhere were strewn about stones for repairing the ...

— Under the Waves - Diving in Deep Waters • R M Ballantyne

... weak in mind and body; and it was with the eagerness of a child that he pursued his exploration. He climbed far down upon the rocks; on the beaches he pursued the retreating breakers. The merest broken plank or rag of cordage was a treasure in his eyes to be secured at the peril of his life. To see him, with weak and stumbling footsteps, expose himself to the pursuit of the surf, or the snares and pitfalls of the weedy rock, ...

— The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson, Volume XXI • Robert Louis Stevenson

... up a rickety staircase, a still more rickety ladder, and came to a platform at a level with the top of the organ; and all around them, reaching up out of the dim light below, were the open pipes. Passing hurriedly around, on a narrow plank, to the back of the organ, their agitated guide paused before a row of immense pedal pipes, and, without allowing his own eyes to look, he held the light that ...

— ZigZag Journeys in Northern Lands; - The Rhine to the Arctic • Hezekiah Butterworth

... free to go and ask their help to interest their own firms to secure another position for me. Their respect for me depended upon my ability to maintain my social position. They were like steamer friends. On the voyage they clung to one another closer than bark to a tree, but once the gang plank was lowered the intimacy vanished. If I wished to keep them as friends I ...

— One Way Out - A Middle-class New-Englander Emigrates to America • William Carleton

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