Word Direct Answers

What does "plank" mean?

Plank: 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.

Additional senses

  1. 2.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.
  2. 3.To cover or lay with planks; as, to plank a floor or a ship. "Planked with pine." Dryden.
  3. 4.To lay down, as on a plank or table; to stake or pay cash; as, to plank money in a wager. [Colloq. U.S.]
  4. 5.To harden, as hat bodies, by felting.
  5. 6.(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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