n.
- a long, thin flat piece of timber, used in building and flooring.
- a fundamental part of a political or other programme.
- Brit. informal a stupid person.
v.
- make, provide, or cover with planks.
- informal, chiefly N. Amer. & Irish set down forcefully or abruptly:
he planked the glasses in front of him.
Phrase
- walk the plank
historical be forced by pirates to walk blindfold along a plank over the side of a ship to one's death in the sea.
Derivative
Etymology
ME: from Old North. Fr. planke, from late L. planca ‘board’, fem. of plancus ‘flat-footed’.