▪ I. platform, n. (a.)
(ˈplætfɔːm)
Forms: 6 platte-, 6–7 platt-, 6– plat-; 6–7 -fo(u)rme, 6– -form. In 6–8 often as two words, or hyphened. β. 6–7 plotform(e.
[a. F. plateforme (in 1433 platte fourme), lit. ‘flat form’, ‘plane figure’, representation on the flat, ground-plan, ‘a plot, modell, or draught of a building; also, the foundation thereof’ (Cotgr.): see plat a. and form n. The β forms arose from the running together of plat and plot: see plat n.3]
A. n. I. A plane surface; a plan on the flat.
† 1. Geom. A plane figure (as a triangle, quadrilateral, circle, etc.); also, a plane surface, a plane, and, in wider sense, any surface. Obs.
| 1551 Recorde Pathw. i. Defin., Of platte formes some be plain, and some be croked, and some partlie plaine, and partlie croked. Ibid., In a dye (whiche is called a cubike bodie) by geometricians..there are .vi. sides, whiche are .vi. platte formes, and are the boundes of the dye. Ibid. ii. Introd., Two right lines make no platte forme. 1574 Bourne Regiment for Sea xviii. (1577) 49 The most parte of the seamen make their account as though the earth were a plat⁓forme. 1674 S. Jeake Arith. (1696) 181 A Diametral Number may have more parts then be apt for the Sides of the Platform or Rectangle Figure it represents. |
† 2. A plan or representation on the flat (
of any structure existing or projected); a ground-plan; a topographical plan, chart, map; a plan or draught to build by.
Obs. [Kington Oliphant cites
platform 1513–25 from State Papers, which may be in this sense or 4.]
| 1551 Robinson More's Utop. ii. (1895) 131 They sat that kyng Vtopus himself..appointed, and drew furth the platte fourme of the city. 1579–80 North Plutarch (1676) 456 [They] were every one occupied about drawing the Platform of Sicilia. 1639 Horn & Rob. Gate Lang. Unl. xlviii. §525 The master-builder, having first drawne out the plot, buildeth according to that draught (modell or plat⁓forme) with other work-men helping him. 1665 G. Havers P. della Valle's Trav. E. India 8 Captain Woodcock..shew'd me a Chart or Plat-form of the whole Streight of Ormuz, made by himself. 1763 Gray Let. 15 Jan., I conclude with a rude draught of the platform [of York Cathedral] according to my idea, but without any mensuration. 1774 Johnson Journ. N. Wales 17 Aug., All the walls remain, so that a complete platform, and elevations, not very imperfect, may be taken. |
| β 1606 Holland Sueton. 14 He..viewed, and considered the plotforme according to which he was about to build a Schoole of swordfencers. |
II. Figurative uses derived from sense 2 (
plan).
† 3. a. A plan, design; something intended or taken as a pattern, a model.
Obs.| 1574 R. Scot (title) A Perfite Platforme of a Hoppe Garden, and necessarie instructions for the making and mayntenaunce thereof. 1575 Gascoigne Making of Verse Wks. T iv, Many wryters when they haue layed the plat⁓forme of their inuention, are yet drawen sometimes (by ryme) to forget it. 1586 A. Day Eng. Secretary i. (1625) 1 To lay downe a platforme or method for writing of Epistles. 1693 J. Edwards Author. O. & N. Test. 105 This garden was the platform of those before mentioned. a 1703 Burkitt On N.T. Luke xi. 1 The Lord's prayer is..a pattern and platform, according to which all our prayers ought to be framed. 1775 Burke Corr. (1844) II. 3 You will naturally follow the platform of the London petition, and can be at no loss in the wording. 1827 Hallam Const. Hist. (1842) II. 522 This noble design was not altogether completed according to the platform. |
| β 1591 R. Hichcock in Garrard's Art Warre A iv b, Ample and fine drawne plots, goodly plotformes, needfull inuentions. 1615 W. Lawson Country Housew. Gard. (1626) 17 The Plot-forme being laid, and the Plot appointed where you will plant euery Set in your Orchard. |
† b. A written outline or sketch; a scheme; a description.
Obs.| 1596 Spenser State Irel. Wks. (Globe) 633/1 Ane affectation of Irish captaynrye, which in this plattforme I endevour specially to beate downe. 1647 Trapp Comm. Rom. ii. 19 A platform of wholsome words, a systeme, a method artificially moulded, such as Tutours and Professours of Arts and Sciences have, and do read over again and again to their Auditours. 1680 N. Lee Cæsar Borgia i. i, Thus have I drawn the platform of their Fates. 1716 M. Davies Athen. Brit. III. Dissert. Physick 56 The solid Platforms of the Astrological and Hydrological Branches of Physick shall be set down next. 1727 J. Asgill Metamorph. Man i. 141 The two Records in the Thessalonians and Corinthians, left us as a Platform of the first Resurrection. |
† 4. a. A plan of action; a scheme, design, device.
Obs.| 1550 Gardiner Let. to Ld. Protector in Foxe A. & M. (1583) 1342/1 If my Lord of S. Dauides, or such others haue theyr head combred with any new platforme. 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. I. 132/2 His destruction intended by queene Quendred, hir platforme of the practise to kill him. 1649 W. Blithe Eng. Improv. Impr. (1653) 64 A good method, or plat-form to advance each mans labour to the best furtherance of a work. 1686 F. Spence tr. Varillas' Ho. Medicis 137 Those who had drawn up the platform of the Pazzi's conspiracy. 1815 J. Adams Wks. (1856) X. 140 A magnificent confederation, association, platform, or conspiracy, call it what you will, of three great personages to separate all South America from Spain. |
| β ? a 1600 Grim the Collier in Hazl. Dodsley VIII. 423 A sudden plotform comes into my mind, And this it is. |
b. spec. A plan or draught of church government and discipline; a scheme of principles or doctrines, made by or on behalf of a religious party, church, or sect. Now
rare.
| 1573 Cartwright Repl. Answ. Whitgift 13 A true and perfect patern or platforme of reforming the church. c 1589 Theses Martinianæ 8 That the platforme of gouernment by Pastors, Doctors, Elders, and Deacons was not deuised by man, but by our Sauiour Christ himselfe. 1644 (title) The Platforme of the Presbyterian Government with the Forme of Church Worship, &c. Published by Authority. 1674 Hickman Hist. Quinquart. (ed. 2) 92 How it can be proved, that..the Belgick Churches did first embrace Religion according to the Lutheran, and not the Calvinian platform? a 1732 Atterbury Serm. (1737) IV. 24 They imposed the platform of their doctrine..as divine. 1759 Robertson Hist. Scot. iii. Wks. 1813 I. 194 The first book of discipline..contains the model or platform of the intended policy. 1835 Haliburton Clockm. Ser. i. 47 Under what Church platform? a 1881 Stanley in A. Elliot State & the Church (1882) 26 No existing Church can find any pattern or platform of its government in those early days. 1882 J. H. Blunt Ref. Ch. Eng. II. 406 Nothing in the Church could be ‘pure’, in their estimation, unless it conformed itself to the Genevan ‘platform’. |
† c. A plan or scheme of government or administration; a plan of political action.
Obs. (
Cf. 9 b.)
| 1598 R. Grenewey Tacitus' Ann. xiii. i. (1622) 179 Then he [Nero] laid downe a platforme of his future regiment. 1610 Healey St. Aug. Citie of God iii. xvi. (1620) 122 This was the yeare wherein Rome deuised her platforme of new gouernment. 1625 in Debates in Ho. Comm. 6 Aug. (Camden) App. 140 Sir Robert Philips commended the platforme of Sir Nathaniel Rich, and sayd that wee were beholding unto him for shewing us the way. 1757 Burke Abridgm. Eng. Hist. Wks. (1812) 8 A violent and ill-considered attempt was made, unjustly, to establish the platforms of the Government. |
III. The surface or area on which anything stands;
esp. a raised level surface.
† 5. a. The area occupied by any structure; the site of a group of buildings, a fort, camp, etc.
Obs.| 1598 Hakluyt Voy. I. 436 With your instrument, for trying of distances, obserue the platforme of the place. 1664 Evelyn tr. Freart's Archit. etc. 122 The Area or Floor, by Artists often called the Plan or Plat-forme. 1671 S. Partridge Double Scale Proportion 37 If the platform were a piece of land, 30 perches broad, and 183 perches long. 1726 Leoni Alberti's Archit. I. 2/1 Under the Title of Platform, we..include all those Spaces of the Buildings, which in walking we tread upon with our Feet. 1739 Cibber Apol. (1756) I. 301 The area or platform of the old stage projected about four foot forwarder in a semi-oval figure. 1796 H. Hunter tr. St.-Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) III. 70, I was sitting by the platform of these cottages, and contemplating their ruins. |
b. fig. The ground, foundation, or basis
of an action, event, calculation, condition, etc. Now
rare.
| 1625 Gonsalvio's Sp. Inquis. To Rdr., Which is so farre off from any figuratiue speech, as it is knowne to be the very Platforme and foundation of all these broyles and troubles. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 12 All the Seasons of the Year being undergone.., we may begin to calculate our Ephemeris afresh; and as a fit Platform, Easter Holy-days bring with them such Weather as is essential to Christide [at the Cape]. 1724 tr. Pliny's Epist. I. Life 18 Probably the first Platform of his future Industry and Application was laid in an habitual Care to oblige [his uncle]. 1829 Southey Sir T. More II. 174 A new government has been constituted in a new country,..and consequently upon a different platform. 1832 Niles' Register 1 Sept. XLIII. 1/2 Fifteen per cent. being the ‘platform’ on which certain interests would agree to protect the national industry!!! |
c. fig. the platform, or more fully
the equal dividend platform, in the Free and United Free Churches of Scotland, the position or general level of churches drawing an equal dividend from the Sustentation Fund, as opposed to embryo or merely mission churches not yet ‘on the platform’.
| 1862 Proc. of Free Ch. Scot. 168 Charges formed out of Home Mission efforts and not yet admitted on the equal dividend platform. |
d. fig. A plane or level
of action, thought, etc.
| 1870 Emerson Soc. & Solit., Clubs Wks. (Bohn) III. 95 Conversation in society is found to be on a platform so low as to exclude science, the saint, and the poet. 1875 Helps Soc. Press. ix. 129 The platform of thought upon which each generation finds itself placed, is a platform of a very different kind from that of the preceding thirty years. |
6. A raised level surface or area.
a. A level place constructed for mounting guns in a fort or battery.
| 1560 Whitehorne Ord. Souldiours (1588) 18 b, That which shall haue either caualiers or platformes. 1571 Digges Pantom. i. xxx. I iv, Suche as shall haue committed to their charge any platfourme with ordinaunce. 1602 Shakes. Ham. i. ii. 252 Fare ye well: Vpon the Platforme twixt eleuen and twelue, Ile visit you. 1704 J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, Platform, in Fortification, is a Place prepared on the Ramparts for the raising of a Battery or Cannon; or it is the whole Piece of Fortification raised in a re-entring Angle. 1814 Wellington in Gurw. Desp. XI. 564 To construct the battery, with its traverses, platform and magazines in one night. 1827 Roberts Voy. Centr. Amer. 179 Twelve pieces of Cannon..mounted..on a wooden platform of great thickness. |
| β 1575 Gascoigne Noble Art Venerie Wks. 1870 II. 304 Patterns..Of Plotformes, Loopes, and Casamats, deuisde by warlike men. 1626 Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Seamen 33 If she [a piece] be well mounted, vpon a leuell plot-forme. |
† b. An open walk or terrace on the top of a building or on a wall.
Obs.| 1580–1 Reg. Privy Council Scot. III. 364 The haill tymmer of the bak platfurme and bartesing. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. ii. 142 A great wall of blackish stones four Foot thick, which supports a large Platform or Terrass. 1691 T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. 107 Lead which was first laid on about twelve Years since upon two Platforms at my House there. 1704 J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, Platform, in Architecture, is..a kind of Terrass Walk, or even Floor on the Top of the Building; from whence we may take a fair Prospect of the adjacent Gardens or Fields. |
c. A natural or artificial terrace, a flat elevated piece of ground; a table-land, a plateau.
spec. in
Geol. and
Physical Geogr.: (
i) A level or nearly level strip of land at the base of a cliff close to the water-level;
occas., a similar terrace away from a body of water but thought to have been formed by the sea in such a situation.
| 1813 Scott Trierm. iii. xiv, The brave De Vaux Began to scale these magic rocks, And soon a platform won. 1832 Lyell Princ. Geol. II. 40 The great platform [in Mexico] which is the scene of sport is at an elevation of about nine thousand feet above the level of the sea. 1838 Murray's Hand-bk. N. Germ. 351 The Brockenhaus is the name of the inn on the platform of bare rock which forms the summit of the Brocken. 1841 C. Lyell Elem. of Geol. (ed. 2) I. vi. 150 The sea is advancing upon the land, and removing annually small portions of undermined rock. By this agency a submarine platform is produced on which we may walk for some distance from the beach in shallow water, the increase of depth being very gradual, until we reach a point where the bottom plunges down suddenly. This platform is widened with more or less rapidity according to the hardness of the rocks, and when upraised it constitutes an inland terrace. 1860 Tyndall Glac. ii. x. 284 The station chosen..was on a grassy platform. 1862 Stanley Jew. Ch. (1877) I. vi. 120 The loftier and still loftier regions of the mountain platform. 1865 J. Fergusson Hist. Archit. I. i. ii. iv. 172 The buildings we..find on the platform at Persepolis. 1901 Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer. XII. 212 A looped bar or ridge of gravel and sand formed on an old wave-cut platform. 1922 E. M. Ward Eng. Coastal Evol. ii. 34 There must come a time when further coast retreat would involve the total exhaustion of wave energy in crossing the shallow water of a wide wave-cut platform. 1944 A. Holmes Princ. Physical Geol. xiv. 289 As the cliffs are worn back a wave-cut platform is left in front.., the upper part of which is visible as the rocky foreshore exposed at low tide. 1964 W. C. Putnam Geol. xiv. 387/2 Where the platform is mantled with sand, it is the beach. Ibid. 388/1 These coasts may be bordered by a whole flight of terraces, which are elevated wave-cut platforms. 1975 R. V. Ruhe Geomorphol. ix. 178/2 There are five marine terraces in Santa Cruz, California; each platform was cut during rising sea level, and its cover of marine sediments was deposited during falling sea level. |
(
ii)
continental platform: see
continental a. 1 d.
(
iii) A former erosion surface or plateau represented by the common surface or summit level of neighbouring hills or other land forms.
| 1908 Q. Jrnl. Geol. Soc. LXIV. 384 Of the older topography..partly destroyed by post-Pliocene denudation, the most striking feature in the higher part of the area is presented by two well-marked high-level platforms, one at 750 feet above the sea, and the other may be called the 1000-foot platform, although it is really a little below this altitude. The latter was first recognized on Davidstow Moor,..but traces of it are to be seen on the surrounding high land in all directions. 1938 A. K. Wells Outl. Hist. Geol. xvii. 226 In a few localities on the Chiltern dip slope remnants of the Lenham platform form a gently inclined shelf above the 400-feet platform. 1954 J. F. Kirkaldy Gen. Princ. Geol. ix. 96 Accordance of summit levels or the presence of platforms at lower levels can be inferred from the layout of the contours. 1966 J. I. Clarke in G. H. Dury Ess. Geomorphol. 257 In Britain..there is a marked tendency to attribute platforms to marine erosion.., while in Australia..and elsewhere it is often held that uplift and rejuvenation of ancient surfaces are possible. Ibid. 270 Sparsely-distributed height-values rarely give..a good indication of erosion-platforms. |
(
iv) The part of a kratogen (craton) where the basement complex, elsewhere exposed as a shield, is overlain by a layer of more recent, relatively flat and undisturbed strata that are mainly sedimentary.
| 1908 tr. Suess's Face of Earth III. iv. ix. 376 The pre⁓Cambrian platform. In front of the Urals there extends the vast Russian plain. Its ancient foundation is not visible till we proceed a considerable distance to the west and south-west. 1923 L. D. Stamp Introd. Stratigr. iii. 36 The whole area of S.E. England consists of a blanket of Mesozoic Rocks resting on an eroded surface of Palæozoic rocks called the Palæozoic Platform. 1958 L. P. Smirnow in L. G. Weeks Habitat of Oil 1168 (heading) Oil-bearing basins on eastern edge of the Russian platform. 1968 C. R. Twidale Geomorphol. iii. 49 The Australian continent is built of a Shield, a Platform and an Orogen. 1972 B. B. Brock Global Approach to Geol. iv. 35 The Russian platform, with a moderate thickness of flat-lying rocks covering the basement, brings the Baltic shield up to the normal size. |
7. † a. A division of the orlop of a man-of-war, between the cock-pit and the main-mast.
Obs.| 1667 Lond. Gaz. No. 159/4 The Lieutenant succeeding in the command, was about half an houre after wounded in both leggs, and carried down to the Platforme. 1704 J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, Platform, or Orlop, in a Man of War, is a Place on the Lower Deck of her, abaft the Main Mast, and round about the Main Capstan, where, in the Time of Service, Provision is to take care of the Wounded Men; 'tis between the Main Mast and the Cock-pit. 1727–41 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Ship, Plate, The Platform or Orlop. |
b. In a small boat or yacht: a light deck.
| 1950 R. Moore Candlemas Bay i. 47 Otherwise she'd have come up and drained her platform through the scuppers, as soon as she floated. 1961 F. H. Burgess Dict. Sailing 161 Platform, floor boards laid over the floors in small yachts to make a walking space. |
8. A raised level surface formed with planks, boards, or the like.
a. generally, as used for standing, sitting, walking, for seeing or being seen, or for any purpose for which such an arrangement is useful.
In a glass-furnace, the bench on which the pots are placed (Knight
Dict. Mech. 1875).
feeding platform, in
Pisciculture, a platform fixed in a trout-pond, a few inches from the bottom, on which food is thrown for the fish.
| 1727 A. Hamilton New Acc. E. Ind. II. lii. 255 The Teytocks Chair..was raised on a plat Form of Deals, with three Steps of Ascent. 1761 Ann. Reg. 218/2 (Coronation of Geo. III) A platform was erected from the upper end of Westminster Hall..to the west door of the abbey. 1777 W. Dalrymple Trav. Sp. & Port. ix, At night we were provided with clean beds and platforms. 1792 A. Young Trav. France 194 Cross the Po by a most commodious ferry; a platform on two boats. 1820 Ann. Reg. ii. 1372/2 It resembles the platforms used on land for weighing waggons. 1826 Hone Every-Day Bk. I. 1182 There were fifteen hundred variegated illumination-lamps disposed over various parts of this platform [in front of a theatre at a fair]. 1827 Hull Advertiser 14 Dec. 4/1 In this order they went..over the temporary Bridge..and passed down an inclined platform..to the bottom of the South or Humber Dock Pit. 1831 Fraser's Mag. IV. 374 The Queen..advanced in procession to the platform [on which the coronation ceremony was to take place]. 1864 Lowell Fireside Trav. 153 He laid the bags upon a platform of alders, which he bent down. |
b. A horizontal stage or piece of flooring resting on wheels, as in a railway carriage, truck, or tram-car; Colonial and
U.S. esp. the open portion of the floor at the end of a railway car.
| 1832 Penny Mag. I. 275 Fixed on a moveable platform, having four wheels; these wheels move along an iron railway which is itself fixed on another platform. 1846 Hull & Lincoln Railw. Bill 11 Conveyed on a truck or platform. 1892 Stevenson Across the Plains 34 The platform of the car. 1896 Daily News 10 Nov. 2/1 (Lord Mayor's Show) Upon the platform-on-wheels officially billed as ‘England and her Heroes’ were men..representing the uniforms of the Buffs at the beginning of the century,..the Black Watch,..and a couple of antique Jack Tars. 1903 Westm. Gaz. 4 Mar. 12/1 A passenger..warned not to ride on the platform of a car which was speeding at the rate of fifty miles an hour. 1931 H. F. Pringle Theodore Roosevelt i. xv. 205 On the special train..a bugler appeared on the rear platform to sound the cavalry charge. 1932 Atlantic Monthly Apr. 437/2 As the train pulled out I saw from the back platform my two men. 1971 Power Farming Mar. 48/4 Illustrated recently in the trade press was a foot-propelled backward-travelling strawberry picking platform used in Israel. 1971 M. Tak Truck Talk 119 Platform, a flat bed trailer, a trailer that has a deck (or platform) on which cargo rests but no sides. 1978 R. L. Hill Evil that Men Do (1979) xx. 244 An early 'fifties flatbed farm truck sat beside the shack, its stacked platform serving as a temporary pen for two enormous sows. 1979 P. Theroux Old Patagonian Express xviii. 286 We were supposed to have been in Mainara for three minutes... I sat on the steps of the platform and smoked my pipe. |
c. A raised walk or floor along the side of the line at a railway station, for convenience in entering and alighting from the trains. (See also
quot. 1900.)
| 1838 F. W. Simms Public Wks. Gt. Brit. 2 On the opposite side an arrival stage or platform is erected. 1846 Fraser's Mag. XXXIV. 522 The platform of an extensive railway station. 1878 F. S. Williams Midl. Railw. 216 The Citadel Station..in 1860 consisted of a single platform for both up and down trains. 1900 Engineering Mag. XIX. 703 The movable platform, or traveling sidewalk [at the French Exposition]. Ibid., In large machine works..time now lost in passing from one part to another might be saved by a travelling platform. Mod. Subway to platforms 1, 2, 3, and 4. |
d. A structure which is designed to stand on the bed of the sea (or a lake) and to provide a stable base above water level from which a number of offshore oil or gas wells can be drilled or regulated.
| 1938 World Petroleum May 76/3 The coast line..is exposed to strong winds and rough seas during six months of the year, so that a very substantial platform has to be provided when underwater drilling is to be done. 1955 Rev. Petroleum Technol. XIV. 24 Fixed-well platforms, unless capable of multiple-well work, are uneconomical ‘at sea’. 1973 Guardian 23 May 13/1 In Scotland today the word platform means..a production unit weighing perhaps a quarter of a million tons, going up to 700 feet high..for use in the North Sea oilfields. 1974 Esso Mag. Summer 7 The next generation of platforms, now under construction, are concrete structures, in which a massive concrete cellular base, which doubles as oil storage, supports the towers which carry the production platform. 1975 Sunday Times 25 May 4/5 Britain's gas supplies are unlikely to be affected, even if some platforms have to stop production temporarily. |
e. A gyroscopically stabilized mounting which is isolated from the angular motion of the craft carrying it and provides an inertial frame for the accelerometers of an inertial guidance system; the gyroscopes, accelerometers, and other instruments associated with this.
| 1946 Wells & Glenny in M. Davidson Gyroscope iii. i. 174 The gyroscope and the magnetic compass assemblies are supported on platforms attached to a rectangular frame. 1954 Aviation Age Oct. 21/1 Gyros, by virtue of their ability to maintain a fixed direction in inertial space, provide a ready means for stabilizing the accelerometer platform against angular motion of the vehicle. 1964 C. F. O'Donnell Inertial Navig. i. 20 To aid in platform stabilization, servos are used, with their input signals coming from pick-offs mounted on the precession or output axis of the gyroscopes. 1970 Time 27 Apr. 15 He charged up Odyssey's small re-entry batteries..and transferred the precise alignment of the command module's ‘platform’—its complex of navigational gyroscopes and accelerometers—to a similar platform in the lunar lander. 1977 Sci. Amer. Feb. 21/2 A long-range cruise missile employs an inertial-guidance system consisting essentially of three or more accelerometers mounted on gyroscope-stabilized platforms, to guide it along a preassigned course. |
f. A rigid diving-board fixed at any of a series of standard heights varying from 3 to 10 metres above the surface of the water; also, in a diving contest, the highboard event.
| 1971 L. Koppett N.Y. Times Guide Spectator Sports ix. 169 Off the platform, some dives are made from a handstand. 1973 Tucson (Arizona) Daily Citizen 21 Aug. 61/7 Finneran is a [sic] Olympic veteran, finishing fifth in the three-meters last year in Munich and ninth in the platform. 1974 Encycl. Brit. Macropædia XVII. 863/2 When diving first became part of the Olympic program in 1904, it was little more than plain high diving from five- and ten-metre fixed platforms. 1974 Rules of Game 202 Competitive diving... Highboard diving platforms and springboards are provided at the heights shown. |
9. a. spec. A temporary (or sometimes permanent) piece of raised flooring in a hall, or in the open air, from which a speaker addresses his audience, and on which the promoters of a meeting sit; hence,
transf. or allusively, in reference to public speaking or discussion on a platform, the making of political or other speeches, platform oratory; also, the body of supporters who appear on a platform, as ‘an influential’ or ‘representative platform’. Also
fig.| c 1820 [Said to have been in use]. 1836 Hull Observer July, Ample arrangements had been made on the ground by the erection of hustings for the spectators and a platform for the speakers. 1840 Niles' Register 7 Mar. LVIII. 4/3 On the platform above the officers of the convention a beautiful transparency had been placed, representing general Harrison in uniform. 1853 A. Prentice Hist. Anti-Corn Law League I. 12 On Thursday August 2nd [1832] Mr. Loyd appeared on a platform on the Clarendon Inn bowling green. 1857 W. Collins Dead Secret ii. i, He was quite incapable of finding his way to the platform of Exeter Hall. 1868 M. Pattison Academ. Org. 6 So much of it [the question] as could be brought upon the platform, was made into a party topic. 1874 Blackie Self-Cult. 25 To go to the pulpit or platform with a thorough command of his subject. 1885 H. N. Oxenham Short Stud. Eth. & Relig. x. 86 Foolish and erroneous..notions are fostered by the periodical press, but the same might be said of the pulpit and the platform. 1886 J. Bright in G. C. Brodrick Mem. & Impress. (1900) 230, I have quitted the platform, and no longer feel the warm interest which is required to make me speak. 1901 Daily Chron. 11 Dec. 3/4 He lamented the growth of the platform. He ignored the Press. His one concern was to be a capable official. 1964 E. B. White Let. 21 Feb. (1976) 517 A man is privileged to say anything he wants to about the magazine, but..he can't use one of my books as a platform. 1966 ‘W. Haggard’ Power House vii. 72 The Freeman was important to him since it provided him with a platform. 1977 It May 29/4 Aims... To act as a platform for people with radical ideas and opinions. |
b. fig. A basis on which persons unitedly take their stand and make their public appeal;
spec. in
U.S. politics, a public declaration of the principles and policy on which a political party proposes to stand; now
esp. such a declaration issued by the representatives of the party assembled in convention to nominate candidates for an election. Also
transf. This
fig. use was developed in
U.S. between 1844 and 1848; in early instances, as well as in the phrase ‘a plank of the platform’ (
cf. plank n. 5), it is associated directly with the material platform on which persons meet and publicly speak (a sense known in
U.S. from 1840). Although to some extent approaching senses 4 b, 4 c, 5 b, this in its origin had no direct connexion with these.
| 1803 Massachusetts Spy 27 Apr. (Th.), The platform of Federalism. 1837 Liberator 15 Dec. 203/3 We care not who is found upon this broad platform of our common nature. 1838 Congress. Globe 11 Jan. App. 73/1 We wanted no platform on which to stand, save the Constitution of our country. 1844 Address Democr. State Convent. Virginia 3 Feb. in Niles' Register LXV. 408/1 These are our doctrines—this the broad platform on which we stand. Here is our confession of faith..old as the constitution—old as the days of our fathers. 1845 C. Sumner in Mem. & Lett. (1893) III. 104 S. C. Phillips and W. B. Calhoun..will labor to bring the Whig party of Massachusetts to the antislavery platform. 1847 S. P. Chase in Ann. Rep. Amer. Hist. Assoc. for 1902 II. 123, I care nothing for names. All I ask for is a platform and an issue. 1847 W. Lumpkin Ibid. for 1899 II. 1138 The passage of the Wilmot resolutions by Congress, I believe..will enlarge the platform on which we stand. 1848 N.Y. Herald 6 May 4/1 We hope that the coming convention will..solemnly re-affirm our old party position, by adopting, as its platform of action, the general resolutions of 1844. Ibid., The whigs, whether on the Lexington platform, or some other non-committal platform, will be and must be at once known and doomed as the party that opposed their country. 1848 Lowell Biglow P. viii. 154 It gives a Party Platform, tu, jest level with the mind Of all right-thinkin', honest folks thet mean to go it blind. 1853 Cobden 1793 & 1853 iii. 87 The advocates of peace have found in the peace congress movement a common platform, to use an Americanism, on which all men who desire to avert war..may co-operate. 1862 T. Hughes in J. M. Ludlow Hist. U.S. 379 The platform on which Abraham Lincoln came in. 1864 Knight Passages Work. Life II. vi. 124 A cordial union of men of very different persuasions..who have met upon a common platform. 1878 N. Amer. Rev. CXXVII. 103 A Western Democrat on a soft-money platform. 1882 Sydney Slang Dict. 7/1 Platform, a standpoint, as ‘Home rule's my platform’. Originally an Americanism. 1883 Standard 28 Apr. 5/4 The platform of the Convention [of the Irish Nationalists] occupies a column of small type in the papers. 1888 Bryce Amer. Commw. II. iii. lxx. 549 note, The nearest English parallel to an American ‘platform’ is to be found in the addresses..issued at a general election by the Prime Minister..and the leader of the Opposition. 1891 [see plank n. 5]. 1909 ‘O. Henry’ Roads of Destiny x. 166 He leaned on the desk and declared his platform to the clerk. He said he had come to Elmore to look for a location to go into business. 1924 H. G. Wells Dream 142, I adopted Votes for Women as the first plank of my political platform. 1926 A. Conan Doyle Hist. Spiritualism I. ii. 25 The broad platform upon which his beliefs were constructed. 1937 [see plank n. 5]. 1964 Gould & Kolb Dict. Social Sci. 484/2 The party platform is adopted before the candidates for President and Vice-President are nominated and..it can happen that the candidate and the platform disagree in important particulars. 1976 Survey Spring 87 The Communist Party of the United States of America..has held conventions to..discuss its strategy and approve a platform. |
10. = platform sole. Also short for
platform shoe.
| 1945 Webster Add., Platform,..an outsole a half inch or more thick, made of wood, cork, etc., and usually covered with leather. 1946 Sun (Baltimore) 2 Nov. 3 (Advt.), Picture-Pretty Platforms... Two flattering styles to choose from..both mounted on black faille platforms. 1960 D. Lessing In Pursuit of English vii. 229, I could not keep my eyes off her shoes... The soles were platforms two inches deep. 1970 New Yorker 31 Oct. 125/1 A boot with a small platform in a contrasting color. 1973 Times 7 Nov. 18/3 An office manager wearing 4½ inch..platforms said ‘they give you a masculine walk because you walk heavy’. Ibid. 18/4 He wore them to catch up with his girl friend's six inch platforms. 1977 C. McFadden Serial (1978) v. 17/2 A woman in..eight-inch platforms that reminded him of the moon shot. |
† B. adj. Of flat form, flat.
Obs. rare—1.
| 1632 Lithgow Trav. v. 208 The tectures of her Houses..being platforme. |
C. attrib. and
Comb., as
platform-framer,
platform-lead,
platform-pavilion; (sense 8 b)
platform body; (sense 8 c)
platform foreman,
platform inspector,
platform official,
platform track; (sense 8 d)
platform leg,
platform operator; (sense 8 f)
platform diving; (sense 9)
platform appeal,
platform campaign,
platform denunciation,
platform eloquence,
platform engagement,
platform-maker,
platform man,
platform manner(s),
platform orator,
platform oratory,
platform plank,
platform point,
platform reply,
platform speaker,
platform speaking,
platform woman;
platform-proud,
platform-ridden adjs.; (sense 10)
platform-wearer;
platform-bridge, in
U.S. a gangway between the platforms of two railway-carriages;
platform-car (
U.S.),
platform-carriage, a low four-wheeled wagon or truck without sides, for transporting mortars and other heavy articles;
platform-crane, a crane mounted on a railway-truck;
platform machine = platform scale;
platform-mud Geol., an elevated deposit of mud with level surface;
platform paddle tennis = platform tennis;
platform party, the group of officials or distinguished persons who sit on the platform at a ceremony or a meeting;
platform rocker orig. U.S., a rocking chair constructed with a fixed stationary base;
platform sandal, a sandal with a platform sole;
platform scale, a weighing-machine with a platform on which the object to be weighed is placed;
platform shoe, a shoe with a platform sole;
platform sole, a very thick outer shoe-sole; also
attrib.; hence
platform-soled adj.;
platform-spring: see
spring n.;
platform stage Theatr. (see
quots. 1951) (
cf. apron stage s.v. apron n. 4 j);
platform tennis, a form of paddle tennis (see
paddle n.1 12) played on a platform,
usu. of wood, enclosed by a wire fence;
platform ticket, a ticket admitting a non-traveller to a railway station platform;
platform tree poet. nonce-use, a tree with a wide-spreading, flat-topped crown;
platform truck, a road transport vehicle having a platform body;
platform-wagon = platform-carriage;
platform yard, a yard where oil platforms are built.
| 1959 Times 18 June 13/2 Dame Christabel [Pankhurst]..deliberately based her ‘*platform appeal’ on charm rather than logic. |
| 1973 Amer. Speech 1969 XLIV. 207 *Platform body, truck or trailer body with a floor but no sides or roof. 1977 Horse & Hound 14 Jan. 44/2 (Advt.), A 16 ft horse box frame, for Bedford T.K. platform body, rear ramp with springs. |
| 1909 Daily Chron. 9 Feb. 1/7 The National Passive Resistance League is organising a *platform campaign against the House of Lords. |
| 1843 E. H. Derby Two Months Abroad (1844) 20/1 By this, with the aid of a winch, diligences and private carriages are..lifted, with their passengers and baggage, from the wheels and axles, and transferred to *platform cars. 1900 Westm. Gaz. 23 Oct. 8/1 An order for..several steel platform cars of forty tons capacity. |
| 1850 Robertson Serm. Ser. iii. i. (1872) 7 *Platform denunciations. |
| 1971 L. Koppett N.Y. Times Guide Spectator Sports xx. 249 *Platform and three-meter springboard diving. |
| 1966 Listener 24 Nov. 783/3 Mr. Sandford's work was a ferocious contemporary indictment... Cathy Come Home may have done more in its hour and a quarter than the *platform eloquence of half a year. |
| 1907 G. Ade Let. 3 June (1973) 41, I have no hankering to undertake any *platform engagements as long as I can get money doing something else. |
| 1897 Daily News 29 Dec. 5/1 *Platform foreman at Euston Station. |
| 1901 Q. Rev. July 55 These by-gone *platform-framers and ‘leaders of revolts’. |
| 1703 T. N. City & C. Purchaser 190 Sometimes *Platform⁓lead is near 1/6 of an Inch thick. |
| 1975 Offshore Aug. 51/2 Divers can be employed to hand risers or lead pipeline ends up into *platform legs when lines are pulled. |
| 1922 G. A. Owen Treat. Weighing Machines x. 134 *Platform machines and weighbridges..are used in the main for weighing above 1 cwt., and are distinguishable by a goods platform. 1969 T. J. Metcalfe Weighing Machines I. x. 99 Platform machines may be portable or dormant. |
| 1928 Daily Tel. 12 June 14/7 To-day the ‘*platform-makers’ of both parties were trying to frame an election programme. |
| 1903 Morley Gladstone III. x. v. 433 *Platform-men united with pulpit-men in swelling the whirlwind. |
| 1969 B. Turner Circle of Squares iii. 23 Anyone who was suspicious of Hirst's *platform manner would be disarmed by that bulldozing statement. |
| 1947 Penguin Music Mag. Sept. 34 As if Chopin was a puppet worked by a skilled ventriloquist of charming *platform-manners. |
| 1863 Lyell Antiq. Man xvi. 336 Deposits of ‘*platform mud’, as it has been termed in France, might be extensively formed. |
| 1975 BP Shield Internat. May 1/3 A relatively new breed of oilman will be required. These are the *platform operators, the men responsible for the day-to-day running of the platforms. |
| 1866 J. C. Patteson Let. in C. M. Yonge Life J. C. Patteson (1874) II. x. 207 Let no *platform orator divulge the great secret. 1979 W. J. Fishman Streets of E. London 117/2 Eleanor Marx-Aveling['s]..remarkable qualities as teacher, platform orator and organiser. |
| 1879 Froude Cæsar vi. 55 He had no turn for *platform oratory. |
| 1935 in F. S. Blanchard Paddle Tennis (1944) iii. v. 56 The following rules..are the officially approved rules for *Platform Paddle Tennis. 1959 ― (title) Platform paddle tennis: the official guide to platform tennis. 1967 O. H. Durrell Official Guide to Platform Tennis i. 3 Originally called paddle tennis, it later became platform paddle tennis and was finally shortened to platform tennis although most old timers..still refer to it as paddle. |
| 1967 O. Wynd Walk Softly, Men Praying xii. 186 You can come with us. As one of the *platform party. 1976 C. Bermant Coming Home ii. iii. 143 The platform party enters, preceded by a mace bearer, and behind him..the Chancellor. |
| 1931 H. F. Pringle Theodore Roosevelt i. xii. 161 He borrowed many a *platform plank from the man he professed to hold in contempt. 1976 National Observer (U.S.) 28 Aug. 4/5 They swallowed platform planks calling for Constitutional amendments to bar abortions and school busing for racial balance. |
| 1949 Economist 15 Oct. 825/2 His [sc. Lord Beaverbrook's] *platform points are pure chauvinism. |
| 1926 R. Frost Let. 11 Feb. (1964) 178 You should get so *platform proud as to be undealable with. |
| 1904 G. B. Shaw Common Sense of Municipal Trading x. 89 One of the keenest grievances of the commercial man who sees profitable branches of his own trade undertaken by the municipality is that it is competing against him ‘with his own money’, meaning that it forces him to pay rates, and then uses the rates to ruin him in his business. The effective *platform reply to this is that the profitable municipal trades, far from costing the ratepayers anything, actually lighten their burden. |
| 1969 J. Gloag Short. Dict. Furnit. (rev. ed.) 564 A revolutionary design, invented in America about 1870, was the *platform rocker. 1970 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 26 Sept. 45/7 (Advt.), Walnut platform rocker. |
| 1958 Times 17 Oct. 17/1 Ivan is first shown wearing four-inch *platform sandals. 1967 Vogue June 98 White patent platform sandals, 18 gns. |
| 1834 Mechanics' Mag. 25 Oct. 248/2 E. & J. Fairbanks, a Concentrated *Platform Scale—a diploma. 1851 C. Cist Sk. Cincinnati in 1851 227 Factories in which platform scales are made. 1948 D. M. Considine Industr. Weighing iv. 67 The portable platform scale consists essentially of a rugged cast iron base mounted on four rubber tired wheels. 1969 T. J. Metcalfe Weighing Machines I. x. 105 The compound lever machine shown..is properly described as a ‘low pattern steelyard platform scale’. |
| 1969 T. C. Thorstensen Pract. Leather Technol. xv. 248 Open⁓toed and *platform shoes are more easily made by sliplasted procedures. 1977 D. Watkin Morality & Archit. 12 An unhappy example of this [sc. public unconcern with what planners would deem practical] in costume would be the craze for ‘platform shoes’. |
| 1939 M. B. Picken Lang. Fashion 113/3 *Platform sole, thick shoe sole, usually from ½ inch to 3 inches in depth; often of cork or wood. 1941 Amer. Speech XVI. 98 The advertising writer reserves his best efforts for the finished products... Fine figures include..a platform sole about as thick as the wafer you get with your malted milk. 1960 R. P. Jhabvala Householder iii. 154 She would wear her platform-sole shoes and jasmine in her hair. 1977 Monitor (McAllen, Texas) 28 Mar. 7A/2 High platform soles..are being phased out although still available for young customers. |
| 1973 Woman's Own 6 Jan. 61 Today's fashions, with their high-heeled, *platform-soled shoes and long, straight trousers can easily make you look taller. 1974 ‘G. Black’ Golden Cockatrice ix. 142 She was short even with platform-soled shoes. |
| 1903 Westm. Gaz. 18 Mar. 1/1 An admirable *platform speaker. |
| 1895 G. B. Shaw Our Theatres in the Nineties (1932) I. 189 The modern pictorial stage is not so favorable to Shakespearean acting and stage illusion as the *platform stage. 1951 Oxf. Compan. Theatre 218/2 Before English actors had any settled homes they played chiefly in inn-yards.., and their first permanent buildings..were wooden structures, roughly circular, with a raised platform stage backing on to the wall and jutting out into the open space, still called a ‘yard’. Ibid. 236/2 The success of Davenant's playhouse..laid the foundations of the new style, and the Elizabethan platform stage was henceforth out of fashion. 1961 Bowman & Ball Theatre Lang. 261 Platform stage, a stage using an acting area which extends into the auditorium without a proscenium picture frame. |
| 1955 N.Y. Times 14 Mar. 31/2 *Platform tennis..is one of the fastest growing and most enjoyable of American sports. 1967 Time 3 Mar. 45 Platform tennis, more commonly called paddle tennis, is not only the newest addition to the family of tennis-type court games: it is unique in that it is played primarily in winter and always outdoors. 1972 N.Y. Times 27 Feb. v. 6 More than 250 players on 128 teams will gather at the ‘home of platform tennis’, the Fox Meadow Tennis Club in Scarsdale, N.Y., on Friday to compete in the 38th annual United States men's doubles championship. 1977 Club Tennis Mar. 13 (title) Platform tennis—the game of the 80's paddling its way to success. |
| 1901 Railway Engineer XXII. 68/2 In Berlin, at all the railway stations, no one is allowed on the platform unless actually going by train or provided with a ‘*platform ticket’. 1929 Station Accounts Instruction Bk. (Gt. Western Railway) 4 Passengers travelling from Platform Ticket Stations without Railway Tickets must surrender their Platform Tickets, and excess fares be charged accordingly. 1935 C. Winchester Railway Wonders of World I. 241/3 At the outset no charge was made for platform tickets by the English railways, but to-day a charge of one penny or thereabouts is usual. 1975 S. Briggs Keep Smiling Through 92/2 The Government had never intended the Tubes to be used permanently as shelters... However, there was nothing illegal in your buying a platform ticket for 1½d and not travelling. |
| 1925 E. Sitwell Troy Park 67 All day in the limp helpless breeze Beneath the empty *platform trees He sits with Brobdignagian asses. |
| 1925 Proc. Inst. Production Engineers V. 144 If trucking is resorted to then use a *platform truck. 1967 Jane's Surface Skimmer Systems 1967–68 7/1 Accommodation. It is available in three versions: a platform truck with a payload of 2,500 to 3,000 kg; or as a coach or bus with seats for twenty passengers and a driver. 1977 Grimsby Even. Tel. 14 May 8/5 (Advt.), 1969 Ford D800 platform truck (no test). |
| 1866 Brande & Coxe Dict. Sci. etc. II. 929 *Platform Waggon, in Artillery, a carriage on four wheels, fitted for the transport of guns, mortars, traversing platforms, or other heavy stores. |
| 1876 T. Hardy Ethelberta (1890) 276 These stage and *platform women have what they are pleased to call Bohemianism so thoroughly engrained with their natures that [etc.]. 1901 Westm. Gaz. 24 Aug. 8/1 She is not a ‘platform woman’ in the common acceptation of the phrase. |
| 1973 A. Price October Men ix. 128 He's got a rig of his own... He's built a *platform yard of his own at Hartlepool. 1977 Offshore Engineer Apr. 9/3 An end-of-contract bonus payment dispute flared up..at Highlands Fabricator's Nigg platform yard, where the steel platform for Chevron's Ninian field..is being completed. |
Hence (chiefly
nonce-wds.)
ˈplatformally adv., in the manner of a platform speaker;
ˈplatformish a., resembling that of a platform speaker;
ˈplatformism, the making of (political) platform speeches;
ˈplatformist, a platform speaker;
platforˈmistic a., characteristic of or suitable to platform speaking;
ˈplatformless a., lacking a platform;
ˈplatformy a. = platformish.
| 1870 Dickens E. Drood xvii, ‘The Commandments say, no murder, sir!’ proceeded Honeythunder *platformally pausing. |
| 1892 Daily News 3 Feb. 6/6 A manner described..as a trifle too *platformish for the House of Commons. |
| 1866 Visct. Strangford Selections (1869) II. 323, I venture to think that the time for *platformism is past, even in this platform⁓ridden country. |
| Ibid. I. 79 [A] true Liberal—as opposed to a technical or *platformistic Liberal. |
| 1892 Kipling in Times (weekly ed.) 25 Nov. 13/2 The railway..a *platformless, regulationless necessity. |
| 1893 Daily Tel. 22 Mar. 5/3 Mr. Fowler's speech in introducing the measure was..a trifle *platformy in style. |
▪ II. ˈplatform, v. [f. platform n.] † 1. trans. To plan, outline, sketch, draw up a scheme of.
lit. and
fig. Obs.| 1592 G. Harvey Four Lett., Sonn. xiv, Vertues all, and Honours all inflame Braue mindes to platfourme, and redoubted handes To doe such deedes. 1593 ― Pierce's Super. Wks. (Grosart) II. 186 Conceit, that buildeth Churches in the Ayer, and platformeth Disciplines without stayne, or spott. 1602 W. Fulbecke 2nd Pt. Parall. Ded., To platforme a consummate and exemplarie Parallele or Trinomion. 1641 Milton Ch. Govt. i. i. 29 To grant that church discipline is platformed in the Bible. |
† 2. To furnish (a building) with a platform: see
platform n. 6 b.
Obs.| 1616 Aberdeen Regr. (1848) II. 341 The said Thomas sall..platforme and mack watterthicht the haill heid of the hous with fyne aisler. 1632 Lithgow Trav. viii. 365 The houses..are all builded with mudde, and platformed on their tops. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. II. 483 Houses, two stories high, platformed at the top for walking. |
3. To place on or as on a platform.
| 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. §167 Every course must not only be tried singly together upon the platform,..but it must have the course next above it put upon it,..and this..amounted to the platforming of every course twice. 1844 Mrs. Browning To Flush xii, Platforming his chin On the palm left open. 1844 ― Drama of Exile 602 Platformed in mid air. |
4. intr. To speak on a platform.
| 1859 Lincoln in Voice (N.Y.) 11 June (1896) 4/1 The point of danger is the temptation in different localities to ‘platform’ for something that will be popular just there. 1892 H. Jephson Platform II. 543 On the 18th September two Conservative ex-Ministers ‘platformed’. 1897 Westm. Gaz. 23 Apr. 2/1 She has never appeared on any platform, in any cause—to ‘platform’ betrays, in a woman, a high stomach. |
Hence
ˈplatforming vbl. n.1| 1594 C[arew] Huarte's Exam. Wits viii. (1616) 108 In platforming, and building, which belong to the imagination. 1640 T. Warmstry Addr. to Two Houses in Sighs Ch. & Commonw. Eng. 2 For the right and just platforming of your designs and undertakings. 1793 [see sense 3]. 1892 H. Jephson Platform I. 556 Its attendant meetings and Platformings. |