▪ I. † placket1 Obs. rare.
[app. a. F. plaquette tablet, dim. of plaque thin plate.]
A plan or map.
| 1552 T. Barnabe in Strype Eccl. Mem. II. ii. App. E. 154 He sent me thither [Newhaven = Havre] upon the kings cost: and I drew a plack of yt, and brought yt to hym..my Lord Fitz Williams..better than three or four hours, purviewing the placket. |
▪ II. placket2
(ˈplækɪt)
[Origin obscure. Perh. the same word as placat, var. form of placard n., sense 3 of which coincides with sense 1 here, and may possibly be the origin of the other uses. But the order of the senses is uncertain, and the following is merely provisional.]
† 1. (?) = placcate 1, placard 3. Obs. rare.
| 1626 Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Seamen 16 Braded plackets for brests of defence. |
2. An apron or petticoat: hence transf. the wearer of a petticoat, a woman. Obs. or arch.
| 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. ii. iii. 22 The curse dependant on those that warre for a placket. a 1625 Fletcher Hum. Lieut. iv. iv, Not half so troublesome as you are to yourself, Sir; Was that brave heart made to pant for a placket? 1661 W. K. Conf. Charac., Old Hording Hag (1860) 88 The extent of her placket is alwayes lower than her smock, and that comes but an inch lower than her navel. 1685 Crowne Sir C. Nice ii. 13 Eve, the mother of jilts,..pretended to modesty, and fell a making plackets presently. 1711 E. Ward Quix. I. 244 Because the Meal from off his Jacket Should not be seen upon her Placket. 1810 Scott Lady of L. vi. v, Our vicar thus preaches—and why should he not? For the dues of his cure are the placket and pot. 1881 A. J. Duffield Don Quix. II. 493 A farthingale and placket [Sp. saboyanas de seda] instead of her grey petticoat. |
3. The opening or slit at the top of a skirt or petticoat, for convenience in putting on and off; also, the slit in a shirt, usually behind.
(Quots. 1605, c 1620 are doubtful.)
| 1605 Shakes. Lear iii. iv. 100 Keepe..thy hand out of Plackets. c 1620 Fletcher & Mass. Lit. Fr. Lawyer v. ii, Keep thy hand from thy sword, and from thy Laundresse placket. 1706 Phillips, Placket, the fore-part of a Woman's Petticoat or Shift. 1719 D'Urfey Pills (1872) II. 19 And Madge had a ribbon hung down to her Placket. 1755 Smollett Quix. (1803) IV. 104 Teresa Panza..came forth..with a grey petticoat, so short that it seemed to have been cut close to the placket. |
† b. Also sensu obscæno. Obs.
| 1601 Munday Downfall Earl Huntington ii. ii. D ij b, And lust doe vncase, From the placket to the pappe. 1673 Hickeringill Gregory Father Greybeard 230, I got all, to her very plackit. 1709 Brit. Apollo II. No. 28. 3/2 She's..Well pleas'd with her Cull in her Placket. |
4. A pocket, esp. that in a woman's skirt.
| 1663 Hist. Cromwell in Select. Harl. Misc. (1793) 368 Which instrument of his, as was said, was found in my Lady Lambert's placket. 1820 L. Hunt Indicator No. 60 (1822) II. 62 In a placket at her side is an old enamelled watch. a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Placket, a pocket. 1841 H. F. Chorley Mus. & Manners (1844) III. 186 The coupé was occupied by a substantial burgher, with his placket at his side, and his pipe for ever at his mouth. 1868 Browning Ring & Bk. v. 1155 What meaneth this epistle..I pick from out thy placket and peruse? |
5. Comb. placket-hole, an opening in the outer skirt to give access to the pocket within; also = 3.
| 1762 Sterne Tr. Shandy V. i, Are not trouse, and placket-holes, and pump-handles—and spigots and faucets, in danger still, from the same association? 1880 Daily Tel. 29 May, The well-known ‘placket-hole’, which is seldom free from points of escape, and has a trick of gaping wide open to disclose its contents to any curious eye. 1898 Westm. Gaz. 17 Mar. 3/2 The concealing of the placket hole is quite an object just now. 1903 Pilot 20 June 529/1 The purse dropped through her placket-hole, instead of going into her pocket. |