planking, vbl. n.
(ˈplæŋkɪŋ)
[f. as prec. + -ing1.]
The action of plank v.
1. Furnishing, flooring, or covering with planks.
| 1495 Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 155 Laboryng & workyng abought Cowchyng plankyng & laying of the seid grete Rokes Stone & Gravell. 1663 Gerbier Counsel (1664) 70 Manger, Rack, and Planking of a Stable is eight shillings per foot in length. c 1850 Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 138 Planking, covering the outside of the timbers with plank; sometimes quaintly called ‘skinning’. 1887 H. W. Daly Digging & Squatting 110 Port Darwin possessed no suitable wood for planking purposes. |
2. concr. Planks in the mass; plank-work; the planks of a structure; spec. those forming the outer shell and inner lining of a ship.
| 1751 C. Labelye Westm. Br. 29 The Carpenters were at Work on the Grating and Planking for the Caisson. 1842 Dickens Amer. Notes ii, The planking of the paddle-boxes had been torn sheer away. 1871 Howells Wedd. Journ. (1892) 295 The promenaders..paced back and forth upon the planking. 1904 A. Griffiths 50 Yrs. Public Service iii. 28 There was little enough comfort for us subalterns—a few feet of planking on the orlop deck. |
3. The lagging or ‘cleading’ of a steam-cylinder.
| 1875 in Knight Dict. Mech. 1732/1. |
4. In technical senses of the verb.
| 1855 Booker Hist. Denton Chapel (Chetham Soc. No. 37) 11 For bowing, basining, boiling and planking [hat-bodies], he received in 1805, eight shillings per dozen. 1883 Century Mag. Aug. 549/2 Cleaning the shad for planking. 1884 Chesh. Gloss., Planking,..the felting of hat bodies by rolling them on a plank, and frequently immersing them in acidulated water. 1902 [see planker]. |
† 5. Harrowing or rolling of land with a plank.
| 1814 M. Birkbeck Notes on France 59 They then sow annual trefoil, which they cover very slightly by planking, that is, drawing a plank, on which a boy rides, over the land. |
6. attrib. and Comb., as planking-clamp, -screw: see quots.; planking-machine: see quot.
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., Planking-clamp,..an implement for bending a strake against the ribs of a vessel and holding it until secured by bolts or treenails. Ibid., Planking-machine, a machine in which hat-bodies, after being formed, are rubbed, pressed, and steamed to give them strength and body. Ibid., Planking-screw, an implement for straining planks against the ribs of vessels. |