Plank Definition | Definition of Plank at Dictionary.com

Definition of plank - 3 dictionary results

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

Related forms:

plankless, adjective

planklike, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source

plank (plāngk)

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.]

Idioms & Phrases

plank

see walk the plank.

Search another word or see plank on Thesaurus | Reference

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