▪ I. placard, n.
(ˈplækəd, pləˈkɑːd)
Forms: α. 5 placquart, plakart, -ert, 6 plagart, 6–9 placart, 7 plachart, 7–8 placaert, 8 playcart. β. 5– placard, (6 placarde, plakard, plackerd, plakerde, plagard(e, plachard(e; 6–7 placcard(e, 6–9 plackard(e). γ. 6 placcat, -att, 7 placat, 7–8 placaet, 7 placate, 8 placaat, Sc. placad.
[a. OF. plackart (1410), pla(c)quar(d, placard, -art in the same senses, mod.F. placard, f. OF. plaquier (mod.F. plaquer) to plate, lay flat, plaster, etc., ad. MFlem. placken (Du. plakken) to plaster, coat with something sticky: see -ard. The OF. plackart was taken into Du. as plackaert, plakaet, plakkaat, whence app. the 16–17th c. Eng. forms placaert, placaet, placcat, etc.; also Ger., Da. plakat. See also placcate, placket2.]
I. An official or public document.
† 1. A formal document (originally) authenticated by a thin seal affixed to its surface. Hist.
Cf. F. sceau plaqué seal affixed to the surface of a document.
† a. Such a document issued by a competent authority, authorizing or permitting a person to do something; a warrant, licence, permit, letters patent. Obs.
† letters of placard, a letter under seal.
| 1482 in Rymer Fœdera (1711) XII. 164/1 Certain Letters in Pauper sealed in Placquart wise with a grete rownde Seale in Rede Wex. 1495 Act 11 Hen. VII, c. 33 §12 Lettres of Placardys made to the same John, of thoffice of Constablisshippe of the Castell of Ludlowe. 1501 in Yorks. Archæol. Soc., Record Ser. XVII. 196, I received from the Kingges grace a plagarde. 1503–4 Act 19 Hen. VII, c. 4 The Kynges speciall licens undre his placarde signed & sealede wyth his pryve seale. 1520 Clerical Subsidies (P.R.O. 64/299 B), The kinges moost honorable lettres of placcarde dated under his signet. 1538 Starkey England i. iv. 102 Ther be few lawys and statutys,..but, by placardys and lycence opteynyd of the prynce, they are broken and abrogate. 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 206 For sundrie men, had plagards then, Such childe to take. 1601 R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. 141 Neither doth he suffer other ships to saile in those seas, without a speciall placard signed with his owne hand. 1652–62 Heylin Cosmogr. iii. (1682) 226 So cautelous, that without his Placard no stranger can have Ingress into his Dominions. 1726 Ayliffe Parergon 341 Religious Houses cannot acquire real Estates by way of Legacy..without the Princes [Charles V.'s] Placart or Licence. |
| fig. a 1555 Bradford Wks. (Parker Soc.) I. 60 Have we a placard that God will do nothing to us? 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iii. xiii. 183 Others..[think] that Christianity gives us a placard to use these Sports. |
† b. An edict, ordinance, proclamation, official announcement. Obs. exc. Hist.
| c 1518 Wolsey in Fiddes Life ii. (1726) 62 You count none assurance by treaties, plakards, proclamations or articles. 1591 Acts Privy Council (1900) XXI. 90 An open placard to al Maiors, Sherives, Justices of Peace, Baylifes, Constables, &c. c 1645 Howell Lett. ii. 25 All Placarts or Edicts are publish'd in his name. 1665 Lond. Gaz. No. 2/3 A strict Placcard against Duels throughout all the Provinces. 1756 Gentl. Mag. XXVI. 363 On the 21st of last month was published a placart or declaration. 1768 (title) General Wolfe's Instructions to Young Officers,..and a Placart to the Canadians. 1855 Motley Dutch Rep. I. i. 114 Charles [V.] introduced and organised a papal inquisition, side by side with those terrible ‘placards’ of his invention [1550]. |
c. esp. in 17th c., A decree or ordinance of the States General or other competent authority in the Netherlands. In this sense often spelt placaert, placaet, placaat, after Du. placaet (now plakkaat).
| 1589 in 3rd Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. 283/2 A commission to proceed with the States in requiring their justification of such points of their placart as concern my Lord Willoughby. 1654 Whitelocke Jrnl. Swed. Emb. (1772) II. 45 The queen had sent unto the states to repeale that placart. 1738 Observ. Brit. Wool title-p., A Playcart or Proclamation for preserving the Woollen Manufactures in Flanders. 1748 Whitehall Evening-Post No. 363 Rotterdam, June 14. A Placart, suspending the Execution of the three Placarts published last Year in relation to the French Trade, was issued. |
| 1589 Ancaster Papers, O.S. 13 May (R.R.O.), [Draft of Ld. Willoughby's Defence against] slaunders by a placcat. 1601 Wheeler Treat. Comm. 41 Those foresaid Placates, Edictes and Prohibitions, made against the English. 1678 Marvell Growth Popery 13 For revoking their Placaets against Wine, Brandy, and French Manufactures. 1688 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) I. 433 The states have ordered a placaet promising a reward of 1000 guilders. 1706 Phillips, Placaert or Placaet, (Dutch) a Proclamation or Ordinance, by the States of Holland. |
2. A notice, or other document, written or printed on one side of a single sheet, to be posted up or otherwise publicly displayed; a bill, a poster.
| 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 112 Persecution at Paris, by reason of certen placardes. 1567 in Calderwood Hist. Kirk (1843) II. 352 Bruited and calumniated by placats presentlie affixed on publick places of the burgh of Edinburgh. 1701 Lond. Gaz. No. 3752/7 A Placart was affixed last night on the Doors of our Cathedral [Cologne], in Answer to that which was lately published by the Chapter. 1706 Phillips, Placard,..a Libel or abusive Writing, posted up or dispersed abroad. c 1730 Burt Lett. N. Scotl. (1818) I. 66 A bill to let you know there is a single room to let is called a placard. 1818 Cobbett Pol. Reg. XXXIII. 338 A placard..was published to call the attention of the people to..the intended meeting. 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. xvi, In the window hung a long and tempting array of written placards, announcing vacant places. 1885 Daily Tel. 5 Oct. 5/7 Flaring posters and placards of many hues. |
II. A thin plate of armour, etc.
† 3. a. A piece of armour; a breast- or back-plate; esp. an additional plate of steel, iron, etc., worn over or under the cuirass: = placcate 1. Obs.
| 1481–90 Howard Househ. Bks. (Roxb.) 274 In a gardviande, a peir brigandines, a plakart, ij. bavieres. 1503 Hawes Examp. Virt. xi. 7 Fyrst she my legge harneys sette on And after my plackerd of grete ryches. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. IV 12 Some had the helme, the visere, the two baviers & the two plackardes..curiously graven. 1552 Huloet, Placard or breast plate, thorax. 1625 Markham Sould. Accid. 39 Some..would..adde a Placcard to cover the brestplate. 1630 Capt. Smith Trav. & Adv. 13 Their Pistolls was the next, which marked Smith upon the placard; but the next shot the Turke was..wounded. 1826 Hor. Smith Tor Hill (1838) I. 41 Sir Giles hastily pulled down his vizor, and clasped it to the plackard. |
† b. An article of dress, sometimes richly embroidered, app. worn by both sexes in the 15th and 16th c., beneath an open coat or gown. Obs.
| 1483 Wardr. Acc. in Grose Antiq. Rep. (1807) I. 41 A plakert maade of half a yard and half a quarter of blac velvet. 1529 Will of J. Ap Jonkyng (Somerset Ho.), My doblet of lether w{supt} sleves & plagard of Russet velwet. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII 2 b, His iacket or cote of raised gold, the placard embrowdered with Diamondes, Rubies, Emeraudes, great Pearles, and other rich stones. |
† 4. = placket2 2–4. Obs.
| 1589 Rider Bibl. Schol. 1095 A Placarde, the fore part of a womans peticote, gremiolarium, thorax. 1589 [? Nashe] Almond for Parrat 4 She will carrie a Martin in her plackarde in despite of the proudest of them all. c 1590 Greene Fr. Bacon i. 111 For fear of the cut-purse, on a sudden she'll swap thee into her plackerd. |
† 5. (See quot.) Obs. (Perh. only French.)
| 1727–41 Chambers Cycl., Placard, in architecture, denotes the decoration of the door of [an] apartment; consisting of a chambranle, crowned with its frieze or gorge, and a corniche sometimes supported by consoles. [So 1765 in Croker Dict. Arts.] 1823 Crabb Technol. Dict. |
6. attrib. and Comb.: placard-man, -bearer, one who walks about the streets bearing an advertisement; placard-wise adv.
| 1482 Placquart wise [see 1]. 1846 Ecclesiologist V. 47 It is no worse to convert an Angel into a link-boy than into a placard-man. 1895 Daily News 5 Dec. 7/7 Interesting to placard collectors of all countries. 1899 Knapp Life G. Borrow I. 275 He employed placard-bearers to walk about the streets exhibiting his flaming advertisements. |
Add: [I.] [2.] For ‘a bill, a poster.’ read: a bill, a poster; also, a sign bearing a political or other slogan, carried by a demonstrator, etc., to attract public attention. (Further examples.)
| 1864 Morning Star 26 May 4 He encounters a sandwich man bearing placards. 1966 D. Bagley Wyatt's Hurricane iv. 102 If you think I'm going to walk about in the middle of a civil war bearing a placard inscribed ‘Prepare To Meet Thy Doom’ you're mistaken. 1977 Washington Post 17 Nov. a11/3 Police..ripped some poles from demonstrators' placards. |
III. [6.] placard-carrier; placard-carrying a.
| 1981 Washington Post 21 Apr. a2/1 A bagpiper, a juggler and more than a dozen placard-carriers whose signs listed historic events that took place in the tavern. 1987 Los Angeles Times 2 Apr. ix. 1/1 In an attempt to rally public interest, about 30 placard-carrying people picketed..in front of the Safeway store. |
▪ II. placard, v.
(pləˈkɑːd, ˈplækɑːd)
[f. prec. n.: cf. F. placarder.]
1. trans. To affix or set up placards on or in (a wall, window, town, etc.).
| 1813 Stamford News in Examiner 8 Mar. 148/1 Meetings were convened, walls placarded, and hand-bills distributed. 1868 Milman St. Paul's vi. 124 The pillars were placarded with advertisements. 1884 Manch. Exam. 8 May 5/2 The town is already placarded with huge posters. |
2. To make public, make known, advertise (something) by means of placards; to post, expose, or display (a poster, inscription, etc.) as a placard.
| 1818 Todd, Placard, to notify publickly: in colloquial language, to post. 1826 Scott Jrnl. 10 Mar., It would be exactly placarding me in a private and confidential manner. 1836 Lytton Athens (1837) I. 351 The prytanes always placarded in some public place a programme of the matters on which the people were to consult. 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. xxiv, Bills..were placarded on all the walls. 1864 H. Ainsworth John Law iv. ii, The parliament..placarded written copies on the walls. |
Hence placarded ppl. a.; placarding vbl. n.
| 1830 Gentl. Mag. Nov. 456/1 In Paris..no further rioting or placarding has taken place. a 1845 Hood T. Trumpet xxix, By chalking on walls, or placarding on vans. 1861 Ludlow in Macm. Mag. III. 320 Workers have been brought together on a placarded offer of employment. |