plank--prophetes.ai

▪ I. plank, n.
    (plæŋk)
    Also 4–5 plaunke, 4–7 planke, 5 planc, 6–7 planck(e. See also planch.
    [ME. planke, a. ONF. planke (Tournai 1275, mod. Picard planke, Norm. planque) = F. planche plank, slab, little wooden bridge, measure of land; in mod.F., a narrow strip of land = Pr. planca, plancha, Cat. planxa, Sp. plancha, Pg. prancha, Piedm., OIt. pianca:—L. planca (post-Aug.) board, plank, slab (e.g. of marble), prob. f. root plak- of Gr. πλάξ, etc.]
    1. a. A long flat piece of smoothed timber, thicker than a board; spec. a length of timber sawn for building or other purposes to a thickness of from two to six inches, a width of nine inches or more, and eight feet or upwards in length.

1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 5259 Þe plank þat on þe bryggë was, Was as sledyr as any glas. c 1350 Will. Palerne 2778 Hent hire vp in armes, & bare hire forþ ouer⁓bord on a brod planke. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xix. 34 And with þe ferste plaunke ich palle hym doune. 1428–9 Rec. St. Mary at Hill 71 Also payd for a carpenter iij dayes ij s... Also payd for a planke iiij s iiij d. 1495 Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 154 Oken plankes of xviij fote long xij ynch brode & iiij ynch thyke. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII 118 The Frenchmen had losed the plankes of the bridge nere a myle aboue Bray. 1653 Walton Angler x. 189 Barnacles and young Goslings bred by the Suns heat and the rotten planks of an old Ship. 1794 Sheridan in Sheridaniana 154 A plank of the old stage, on which Garrick had trod. 1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 159 The wood employed in Joinery is denominated Stuff; and of this there are Boards, Planks, and Battens. 1840 Niles' Register LIX. 157/2 At the extremity of the green [at Auburn, N.Y.],..a large platform was erected... About 40 long benches were constructed of rough planks for the ladies. 1881 Young Every Man his own Mech. §142 Planks are pieces of wood 11 inches in width and 2½ or 3 inches thick.

transf. 1850 Prescott Peru II. 166 They met with ten planks or bars of solid silver, each piece being twenty feet in length, one foot in breadth, and two or three inches thick.

b. Without a or pl.: Timber cut into planks; planking.

1559 in W. Boys Sandwich (1792) 738, xx M. elme plancke of iii and iiii ynches thicke. Ibid. 739. c 1582 T. Digges in Archæologia XI. 225 The excessiue waste of pile and plank in the Flemmyshe platte. 1665 Pepys Diary 7 Aug., There comes Luellin, about Mr. Deering's business of planke, to have the contract perfected. 1720 De Foe Capt. Singleton ii. (1840) 30 Want of saws to cut out plank. 1792 Munchausen's Trav. xxxiii. 157 The Royal George..that fine old ruin of British plank. c 1850 Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 138 Plank, a general name for all timber, excepting fir, which is from one inch and a half to four inches thick.

c. fig. esp. in reference to the use of a plank to save a shipwrecked man from drowning.

1649 G. Daniel Trinarch., Hen. IV cccxxiii, The Planks Politicks make a bridge on To keepe dry Soales. 1633 P. Fletcher Pisc. Ecl. iv. xvi, A thin thin plank keeps in thy vitall breath, Death ready waits. 1659 A. Hay Diary (S.H.S.) 123, I desired her to acquaint her father to come off upon y{supt} plank of ther setting up tolleratioun in Scotland. 1690 Abp. Sharp Wks. (1754) I. Serm. viii. 222 This is indeed the only plank we have to trust to, that can save us from ship⁓wreck. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) I. 514 Though a purchaser may buy in an incumbrance, or lay hold of any plank to protect himself, yet he shall not protect himself by the taking a conveyance from a trustee, after he had notice of the trust. 1866 Whittier Let. to Lucy Larcom 29 God grant that in the strange new sea of change wherein we swim, We still may keep the good old plank, of simple faith in Him!

2. Applied to various things consisting or formed of a flat slab of wood applied to a special purpose indicated in the context; as, a narrow foot-bridge; a table or board; a hat-maker's bench or table which surrounds the ‘kettle’ (Eng. Dial. Dict.), a surf-board; also in other technical uses: see quots.

a 1400–50 Alexander 3740 A preue planke is at a place to pas & to entre. c 1430 Pilgr. Lyf Manhode i. xv. (1869) 11 With þi yerde þow shuldest assaye if it be to deep, or if þer neede oþer brigge or plaunke. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. clxiii. 147 They lete come in the see barges and botes and grete plankes as many as they myght ordeyne and haue. 1599 Hakluyt Voy. II. 236 The king will haue them shoote euery day at the Plancke, and so by continuall exercise they become most excellent shot. 1625 N. Carpenter Geog. Del. ii. v. (1635) 73 Cast on a large Table or planke, a little portion or drop of water. 1771 Luckombe Hist. Print. 324 Before the Carriage is laid on the Ribs, [the pressman] besmears the two edges of the Plank..well with soap or grease. 1784 J. King in Cook Voy. Pacific Ocean III. v. vii. 146 Whenever..the impetuosity of the surf is increased to its utmost height, they [sc. the natives of Karakakooa] choose that time for this amusement [riding the surf]... If by mistake they should place themselves on one of the smaller waves, which breaks before they reach the land, or should not be able to keep their plank in a proper direction on the top of the swell, they are left exposed to the fury of the next, and, to avoid it, are obliged again to dive and regain the place, from which they set out. 1855 Booker Hist. Denton Chapel (Chetham Soc. No. 37) 10 Coarse stuff hats, composed of a mixture of foreign wool and fur, the nap being laid on at the plank. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., Plank, the frame of a printing press on which the carriage slides. 1875 Ure's Dict. Arts (ed. 7) II. 785 The workman..presses it [the point of a hat] down with his hand, turning it..round on its centre upon the plank, till a flat portion, equal to the crown of the hat, is rubbed out. 1888 Nicholson Coal Trade Gloss., Crowntree, a plank about 2½ inches thick, and 5½ or 6 feet long, used to support the roof in coal-workings. 1890 Cent. Dict., Plank..4 (Ribbon-weaving) The batten of the Dutch engine-loom or swivel-loom. 1962 Austral. Women's Weekly 24 Oct. (Suppl.) 3/3 Plank, any type of surfboard. 1963 Pix 28 Sept. 63 Five extra points if you can fit eight surfers, eight planks and a mattress in the woodie. 1967 J. Severson Great Surfing Gloss., Plank, name given to heavy boards, usually referring to the redwood giants ridden prior to the 1950s.

3. † a. A flat slab of stone, esp. a gravestone. [So L. planca.] Obs. b. Geol. Calcareous flagstone of the Stonesfield Oolite beds.

1660 Wood Life Nov. (O.H.S.) I. 345 Two stone coffins..without planks or covers to them. Ibid., Upon most of those planks or plank-stones, were engraved in them, or embossed or convexed a cross from one end to the other. 1691 ― Ath. Oxon. II. 384 Over his grave was soon after erected..a monument of free stone, with a plank of marble thereon. 1871 J. Phillips Geol. Oxford 149 We find about Sandford, in place of the ‘Stonesfield slate’, beds of white and yellow sand, sixteen or more feet in thickness, with irregular laminæ of calcareous sandstone, more or less blue in the centre, called ‘plank’.

4. In local use: A piece of cultivated land longer than broad, a strip of land between two open furrows [= F. planche]; a regular division of land, as distinguished from the irregular ridges of the ‘runrig’ (Eng. Dial. Dict.); a more or less definite measure of land: see quots.

1814 J. Shirreff Agric. Surv. Shetl. App. v. 32 Q. Is the term plank known as applicable to lands? A. I..conceived it used as a term for large regular divisions, in opposition to the smaller ridges of the old rig and rendal or runrig divisions. 1883 R. M. Fergusson Rambling Sk. xiii. 85 The average extent of each plank was about an acre. 1892 R. W. Cochran-Patrick Med. Scot. viii. 170 The ‘plank’ of land..was generally the same in extent throughout Orkney and contained 1¹/₉ acre Scots or 1·32 acre English.

5. fig. An item or article of a political or other program. Cf. platform n. (a.) 9 b. orig. U.S.

1848 Lowell Biglow P. Poems 1890 II. 141 They kin' o' slipt the planks frum out th' ole platform one by one. 1848 Boston Courier 28 Sept. 2/2 Another plank in the platform is, no Cass or other plank to be added. 1856 Househ. Words XIV. 86 Every subject of the platform is spoken of as one of its planks; thus we read of ‘the slavery plank’, ‘the tariff plank’. 1873 Ld. Salisbury in Q. Rev. CXXXV. 558 Neither is it necessary now to dwell on those questions which are occasionally discussed by speculative politicians, but which..are either too small or too large to be regarded as a plank in any party's platform. 1884 Chr. World 12 June 433/1 Another ‘plank’ is the restriction of Chinese immigration. 1891 Times 7 Oct. 10/4 It was not an admitted ‘plank’ in the Liberal platform, and (so far as I know) Mr. Gladstone has never promoted it or even said one word in its favour. 1894 Liberal 24 Nov. 42/1 They have founded a Society, the sole plank of whose platform is ‘Hands off, please’. 1926 Galsworthy Silver Spoon ii. i. 117 Dared he tackle the air—that third plank in the Foggart programme? 1937 Ann. Reg. 1936 189 Without cease the German Government protested against the alliance between Soviet Russia and France, alleging that the pact was a danger to Germany. That was one plank in the platform of German foreign policy. 1965 Listener 20 May 755/2 Thinkers whose ideas were fairly far removed from any of the chief party political planks. 1970 Daily Tel. 2 Feb. 1 The enforcement of law and order is to be one of the main planks of the Conservatives' General Election campaign. 1977 Cornish Times 19 Aug. 8/2 He told me that the main plank of his election campaign was going to be a policy of discrimination as advocated by an extreme political group, which was then defacing private and public buildings with stickers and misspelt slogans.

6. Phrases. † to bring (a gun) to plank: ? i.e. to the side of the ship; to run out (obs.). plank-over-plank, with the outside planks overlapping, as in a clinker-built vessel. plank-upon-plank: see quot. 1823. to walk the plank, to walk blindfold along a plank laid over the side of a ship until one falls into the sea (as pirates and others are said to have made their captives do, in order to get rid of them). Also fig.

1557 Ld. Grey in Froude Hist. Eng. VI. xxxiv. 493, I caused the gunners to bring up their artillery to plank, and then shot off immediately ten or twelve times. 1776 Falconer Dict. Marine, French Terms, Border à quein, to plank a ship with clench-work, or plank-over-plank. 1822 Scott Pirate III. xii. 281 They deserve to be made to walk the plank for their impudence. 1823 Crabb Technol. Dict., Plank upon plank, is when other planks are laid upon a ship's sides after she is built. 1835 J. E. Alexander Sketches in Portugal viii. 179 The admiral..worked late and early himself, and made every body under him work, or else ‘walk the plank’. 1844 Macaulay Barère Misc. (1868) 262/1 It would have been necessary for Howe and Nelson to make every French sailor whom they took walk the plank. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Walking a plank, an obsolete method of destroying people in mutiny and piracy, under a plea of avoiding the penalty of murder... Also, for detecting whether a man is drunk, he is made to walk along a quarter-deck plank. 1883 Stevenson Treas. Isl. i. i, Dreadful stories they were; about hanging, and walking the plank.

7. attrib. and Comb. Consisting or built of planks, as plank-bridge, plank dam, plank-house, plank-island, plank pile, plank piling, plank-raft, plank sheeting, plank-table, plank-timber, plank-work; objective, as plank-dressing; plank-built, plank-sided adjs.; plank-bed, a bed of boards resting on low trestles, without a mattress, used as part of the discipline of convents, prisons, etc.; plank-buttress [tr. G. plankengerüst (A. F. W. Schimper Pflanzengeographie (1898) iii. iv. 328)], a development of a root at the base of the trunk of certain tropical trees; plank-hook, a pole with an iron hook at the end, used by quarrymen, miners, and others (U.S.); plank-owner Navy slang (chiefly U.S.), (a) a member of the original crew of a ship; a marine with long service with his ship or unit; (b) a marine with a light task; plank-plant, an Australian leguminous plant, Bossiæa Scolopendrium; plank-road, a road made of a flooring of planks laid transversely on longitudinal bearing timbers (U.S.); plank steak, steak cooked and served on a piece of plank; cf. planked ppl. a. 2; plank-timbering, plank tubbing: see quots.; plank-way, the narrow portion of deck between the side and the frame of the hatch in a wherry, etc.

1868 Farrar Seekers iii. i. (1875) 265 To prefer a *plank-bed and skin and whatever else of the kind belongs to the Grecian discipline. 1887 United Ireland 27 Aug., To cheerfully accept the privations of the prison and its plank-bed. 1888 Bernard Fr. World to Cloister v. 113 The order..is reckoned..one of the most austere in regard to its abstinence from meat,..its plank bed, midnight office, and long hours of prayers.

1933 J. Buchan Prince of Captivity ii. iv. 247 He crossed the stream by a *plank bridge. 1979 G. Mitchell Mudflats of Dead iii. 35 He took to the causeway, crossed the plank bridge.

1897 M. Kingsley W. Africa 419 An ostentatiously European *plank-built house.

1903 W. R. Fisher tr. Schimper's Plant-Geogr. iii. i. 304 Much more frequently these buttresses assume the form of plank-like outgrowths of the base of the trunk and of the uppermost roots, and they may be termed *plank-buttresses. 1952 P. W. Richards Tropical Rain Forest i. 4 Plank buttresses..are a highly characteristic feature of rain-forest trees. 1960 N. Polunin Introd. Plant Geogr. xiv. 467 The dominants are often of particularly massive growth and rich branching, but devoid of plank-buttresses.

1883 Gresley Gloss. Coal Mining, *Plank Dam, a watertight stopping fixed in a heading, constructed of balks of fir placed across the passage, one upon another, sideways, and tightly wedged.

1831 J. Porter Sir E. Seaward's Narr. II. 58 David Allwood and his family had the *plank-house allotted to them.

1876 Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. liv, The tiny *plank-island of a yacht.

1901 Our Naval Apprentice (U.S.) Aug. 14 ‘Patsy’ is a ‘*Plank Owner’ on ‘Constellation’. 1920 Our Navy (U.S.) Apr. 11 Some of the plank-owners think the navy would be a great outfit if it didn't have any ships in it. 1945 Richmond (Va.) News Leader 31 May 6/3 The majority of our crew was made up of ‘plank owners’—men who had been aboard the Colhoun since she..had been commissioned. 1952 A. Geer New Breed 6 The ‘plank-owners’ (any Marine not going) were subjected to a barrage of good-natured insults as they stood on the pier. 1967 M. Dibner Admiral xiv. 140 He became her first gunnery officer as a ‘plank owner’..at her commissioning.

1772 C. Hutton Bridges 98 The piles are grooved.., and *plank piles let into the grooves.

1793 R. Mylne Rep. Thames 31 A line of *Plank Piling should be run down to a little Island adjoining.

1910 Westm. Gaz. 24 Jan. 5/2 People..had to make use of boats or *plank-rafts.

1853 Moodie Life Clearings Introd. 9 The many *plank-roads and railways in the course of construction in the province [Canada]. 1856 Olmsted Slave States 365 The first plank-road in the State of New York was laid, I believe, in 1844, and in 1846 there were several in operation. 1888 Times 2 Oct. 11/6 Traces of old Roman plank-roads on the moor..not far from Diepholz, in Lower Hanover.

1789 W. Jessop Rep. Thames & Isis (1791) 22 Instead of using Timber and *Plank Sheeting, slope the sides to an Angle of 45 degrees, and pitch them with rough flat Stones.

1897 M. Kingsley W. Africa 563 A few steps onwards bring me in view of a corrugated iron-roofed, *plank-sided house.

1959 Good Food Guide 93 *Plank steak, shashlik, scampi maison, and ‘nest of chicken’ are among its specialities. 1972 Vogue Jan. 16/3 Try the spare ribs or prime plank steak. 1975 Islander (Victoria, B.C.) 27 Apr. 5/4 We celebrated our arrival by ordering ‘plank steak’... It was juicy and tender and served on a white piece of wood.

1900 H. Lawson Over Sliprails 131 A *plank-table, supported on stakes driven into the ground.

1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XVIII. 659/2 The forests yield..*plank-timber, masts, and yards.

1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., *Plank-timbering, the lining of a shaft with rectangular plank frames.

1839 Ure Dict. Arts 972 There are three modes of keeping back or stopping up these feeders; by *plank tubbing [etc.]. 1883 Gresley Gloss. Coal Mining, Plank Tubbing, shaft lining of wooden planks driven down vertically behind wooden cribs all round the shaft.

1887 W. Rye Norfolk Broads 48 How it did rain! The *plank-ways, parched and dry with weeks of sun, let in the water everywhere. 1889 P. H. Emerson Eng. Idyls 26 Down the river..came sailing the wherry..with her plankways under water. 1890 Hosie W. China 93 Rails of bamboo ran along both sides of the plank⁓way.

1745 Jrnl. Siege Louisburg in W. Shirley's Let. (1746) 24 The French..added to the Top of it a *Plank-work picketted, to raise it to the same Height with the rest of the Wall.

▪ II. plank, v.
    (plæŋk)
    [f. plank n.: cf. ONF. planquier = OF. planchier to floor, plank, bridge, f. planke, planche.]
    1. a. trans. To furnish, lay, floor, or cover with planks. Also with over.

c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. i. 516 Planke hit stronge ynough Vnder thin hors, that hit be lyggyng softe Ynough & harde ynough to stonde olofte. 1485 Rec. St. Mary at Hill 29 In the Stable a Racke & a mawnger, and it is new planked. 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Plancher ou paver d'ais, to floore or planke with bourdes. 1609 Holland Amm. Marcell. 390 When he had set his ships together,..and..planked them over in manner of a bridge, he passed over..into the Countrey of the Quadi. 1697 Dryden æneid ii. 21 The Sides were planck'd with Pine. 1735 J. Price Stone-Br. Thames 7 These Truss Ribs, when plank'd over, will be enough. 1842 Dickens Amer. Notes (1850) 143/1 The footways in the thoroughfares which lie beyond the principal street, are planked like floors.

b. To fasten or join together, to fasten or hold down, with planks.

1864 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. xvii. vii, Boats planked together two and two. 1895 Times 5 Jan. 3/3 The ballast..does not appear to have been planked and tommed down.

2. a. To place, put, or set down; to deposit, plant. dial. or slang. b. To table or lay down money; to pay readily or on the spot. Const. down, out, up. colloq. (orig. U.S.). Also absol.

a. 1859 B. Brierley Day Out (1886) 49 So we crope up th' slates, an plankt ussel' deawn ut th' top. 1886 A. G. Murdock Scotch Readings (ed. 2) 69 ‘Plank’ it on the highest shelf in the house. 1892 [J. Lumsden] Sheep-head 205 Hastily I handed my dear Lady Matty to a seat, and planked my own huge carcase upon another one. 1894 Sat. Rev. 1 Sept. 234 A desire to plank down..University men in the midst of the social life of East London. 1936 J. Tickell See how they Run iv. 46 How would you like to be half-starved for a bit and then planked down in a foreign school, aged twelve, and have to spend your holidays with the Geometry master? 1938 A. J. Liebling Back where I came From 182 An overstuffed chair some admirer had planked down next to the ticket booth. 1964 Perthshire Advertiser 13 June 14 Planking the lady into a beach chair and carrying her..to the other side.

b. 1824 Nantucket Inquirer 19 Apr. 2/4 His guardy was sent for, and he planked the cash. 1835 Crockett Tour 59 During the last war [he] planked up more gold and silver to lend the government than Benton ever counted. 1835–40 Haliburton Clockm. (1862) 376 Come into the iseter [= oyster] shop here, and plank the pewter. 1848 W. E. Burton Waggeries & Vagaries 65 If the nigger..can plank up if he's cast, I'm darned if I don't..sue the nigger. 1887 H. Frederic in Scribner's Mag. I. 625/1 Workman would rather plank out five thousand dollars from his own pocket. 1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Miner's Right x, He ‘planks down’ the dollars requisite for the purchase. 1903 Somerville & ‘Ross’ All on Irish Shore 178 Every one squared up his books and planked ready money down on the nail. Ibid. 185 People began to talk then, especially as the pony's look and shape were improving each day, and after a little time every one was planking his money on one way or another. 1915 W. S. Maugham Of Human Bondage lxxv. 389, I planked out the money to keep you. 1951 New Yorker 1 Dec. 63/1 (Advt.), You plank the cash on the counter for a slice of sirloin. 1966 H. Kemelman Saturday Rabbi went Hungry xxi. 127 When you ask someone to plank down a hundred and fifty-odd bucks for a lot which he doesn't think he's going to need..it's a lot of dough. 1972 Even. Telegram (St. John's, Newfndl.) 5 Aug. 3/1 How could a poor man..plank down $70,000 in ready cash for a place to live in?

3. techn. a. To splice together (slivers of wool) into rovings. b. To harden (a hat) by felting.

1874 Knight Dict. Mech. 362/1 Slivers of long-stapled wool are planked or spliced together. 1875 Ibid. 1731/2 They [hat-bodies] are planked or hardened to give them solidity, thickness, and strength. 1875 Ure's Dict. Arts (ed. 7) III. 1163 Breaking-frame.—Here the slivers are planked, or spliced together, the long end of one to the short end of another. 1902 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 15 Feb. 378/2 After the hat is planked it contains nothing hurtful.

4. To fix on a board (a fish that has been split open) and cook at a hot fire: see planked 2. U.S.

1877 Howells Out of Question (1882) 134, I suppose you plank horn-pout, here.

5. a. intr. To sleep on or as on a plank; to lie down on the hard ground; also to plank it. b. trans. To condemn to a plank-bed.

1829 B. Hall Trav. II. 382, I was right glad of [a berth], being wofully tired, and having no mind to plank it! 1860 Donaldson Bush Lays 40 Through the day we will rough it, at night we will plank it. 1887 Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman in Scott. Leader 15 Oct. 5 Who may be sent to a prison cell and planked for taking part in transactions which are as innocent and harmless as a meeting of the East Stirlingshire Liberal Association.

6. To exchange the separate strips or rigs of land of an individual owner for one compact piece of equal extent. North. Sc. dial.

1812 J. Henderson Agric. Surv. Caithness 268 In many cases, the arable land has been planked, or converted into distinct farms, in place of the old system of tenants occupying it in run rig, or rigg and rennal, as it was provincially termed. 1871 R. Cowie Shetl. ii. viii. 158 The land [has been] planked or allocated in due proportion to each person.