plank definition | Dictionary.com

plank

[plangk]

–noun

1.	a long, flat piece of timber, thicker than a board.

2.	lumber in such pieces; planking.

3.	something to stand on or to cling to for support.

4.	any one of the stated principles or objectives comprising the political platform of a party campaigning for election: They fought for a plank supporting a nuclear freeze.

–verb (used with object)

5.	to lay, cover, or furnish with planks.

6.	to bake or broil and serve (steak, fish, chicken, etc.) on a wooden board.

7.	plunk (def. 2).

—Idiom

walk the plank,

a.	to be forced, as by pirates, to walk to one's death by stepping off a plank extending from the ship's side over the water.

b.	to relinquish something, as a position, office, etc., under compulsion: We suspect that the new vice-president walked the plank because of a personality clash.

Origin:
1275–1325; ME planke < ONF < L planca board, plank. See planch

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

plank (plāngk) Pronunciation Key
n.

1. A piece of lumber cut thicker than a board.
2. Such pieces of lumber considered as a group; planking.
A foundation; a support.
One of the articles of a political platform.

tr.v. planked, plank·ing, planks

To furnish or cover with planks: plank a muddy pathway.
To bake or broil and serve (fish or meat) on a plank: "Boards specially made for planking food have grooves . . . to hold juices" (Michael Stern).
To put or set down emphatically or with force.

[Middle English, from Old North French planke, from Late Latin planca, from plancus, flat; see plāk-¹ in Indo-European roots.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
plank

1206, from O.N.Fr. planke (O.Fr. planche) "plank, slab, little wooden bridge," from L.L. planca "broad slab, board," related to phalanga "pole to carry burdens," from Gk. phalange (see phalanx). Technically, timber sawed to measure 2 to 6 inches thick, 9 inches or more wide, and 8 feet or more long. Political sense of "item of a party platform" is U.S. coinage from 1848. To walk the plank, supposedly a pirate punishment, is first attested 1822 in Scott.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

plank
noun
1.	a stout length of sawn timber; made in a wide variety of sizes and used for many purposes [syn: board]
2.	an endorsed policy in the platform of a political party
verb
1.	cover with planks; "The streets were planked"
2.	set (something or oneself) down with or as if with a noise; "He planked the money on the table"; "He planked himself into the sofa"
3.	cook and serve on a plank; "Planked vegetable"; "Planked shad"

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
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American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms - Cite This Source - Share This

plank

see walk the plank.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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U.S. Gazetteer - Cite This Source - Share This

Plank, IA (township, FIPS 10793342)
Location: (41.364646, -92.128365)
Population (2000): 367 (143 housing units)
Area: 57.127953 sq mi (land), 0.048699 sq mi (water)

U.S. Gazetteer, U.S. Census Bureau
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Plank

Plank\, n. [OE. planke, OF. planque, planche, F. planche, fr. L. planca; cf. Gr. ?, ?, anything flat and broad. Cf. Planch.]

1. A broad piece of sawed timber, differing from a board only in being thicker. See Board.

2. Fig.: That which supports or upholds, as a board does a swimmer.

His charity is a better plank than the faith of an intolerant and bitter-minded bigot. --Southey.

3. One of the separate articles in a declaration of the principles of a party or cause; as, a plank in the national platform. [Cant]

Plank road, or Plank way, a road surface formed of planks. [U.S.]

To walk the plank, to walk along a plank laid across the bulwark of a ship, until one overbalances it and falls into the sea; -- a method of disposing of captives practiced by pirates.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Plank

Plank\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Planked; p. pr. & vb. n. Planking.]

1. To cover or lay with planks; as, to plank a floor or a ship. "Planked with pine." --Dryden.

2. To lay down, as on a plank or table; to stake or pay cash; as, to plank money in a wager. [Colloq. U.S.]

3. To harden, as hat bodies, by felting.

4. (Wooden Manuf.) To splice together the ends of slivers of wool, for subsequent drawing.

Planked shad, shad split open, fastened to a plank, and roasted before a wood fire.

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