plank
Americannoun
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planks
plural
-
a long, flat piece of timber, thicker than a board.
-
lumber in such pieces; planking.
-
something to stand on or to cling to for support.
-
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)
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planks,
present (3rd person singular)
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planked,
past participle, past
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planking
present participle
-
to lay, cover, or furnish with planks.
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to bake or broil and serve (steak, fish, chicken, etc.) on a wooden board.
idioms
noun
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a stout length of sawn timber
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something that supports or sustains
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one of the policies in a political party's programme
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to be forced by pirates to walk to one's death off the end of a plank jutting out over the water from the side of a ship
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slang a stupid person; idiot
verb
-
to cover or provide (an area) with planks
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to beat (meat) to make it tender
-
to cook or serve (meat or fish) on a special wooden board
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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planksimple
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plankssimple
-
have plankedperfect
-
has plankedperfect
-
am plankingprogressive
-
are plankingprogressive
-
is plankingprogressive
-
have been plankingperfect progressive
-
has been plankingperfect progressive
Past
-
plankedsimple
-
had plankedperfect
-
was plankingprogressive
-
were plankingprogressive
-
had been plankingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of plank
1275–1325; Middle English planke < Old North French < Latin planca board, plank. See planch
Explanation
A plank is a board or another rectangular piece of wood. When you're building your four-story treehouse, you'll need a lot of planks. If you've ever watched a movie about pirates, you've heard of "walking the plank," a despicable way to punish captives, forcing them to plunge off the end of a plank (or a "gang plank") into the ocean below. Planks are more commonly used to build houses or hold a fish as it cooks on a grill. Another kind of plank is a political platform, like a candidate's environmental plank, focused on reducing carbon emissions.
Vocabulary lists containing plank
Words Every Pirate Should Know
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Speech and Debate
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"The Mixer" by P.G. Wodehouse
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Rhys: I don’t do much with Instagram but my algorithm is generally older men showing you how to kind of spile a garboard plank next to a keel, things like that.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026
Though Alicia emerged victorious, Christiane held a plank for over three minutes, arms trembling and gritting her teeth.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
The man eventually used a wooden plank to guide the bear out of the truck, allowing both to walk away unharmed.
From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026
A ban on advertising, including by influencers, is a central plank of the bill, though questions remain over how it could be enforced.
From Barron's ● Jun. 29, 2026
“Frank picked up a bench or plank and retreated back,” according to a later courtroom account recorded by Andrew Jackson.
From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis
Hewing is the ancient art of cutting logs into beams or planks for timber frames.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
In 2007, Princeton released a “Wedges” game online, which Pacala built a prototype for from planks of wood in his garage.
From Salon ● Jun. 26, 2026
We performed classic moves: squats, crunches, high and low planks and bird dogs, among them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 15, 2026
During a typical session, he does supersets of barbell hip thrusts, planks and walking lunges with 30-pound dumbbells.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 16, 2026
To get to the porch, we gingerly step on a series of mud-soaked planks that serve as a makeshift walkway.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
"Bee" is one of the very few remaining Stroma yoles – a small open-decked boat with a planked hull - that once served the now abandoned island off the northern mainland.
From BBC ● Jan. 28, 2025
I planked on the lake shore and did box jumps onto the deck steps.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2022
There are also dozens of variants — pickets, corrugated panels, berms, X-shaped steel barriers, even planked walls placed along Gulf Coast beaches.
From New York Times ● Jan. 31, 2019
Make one on a hot summer night to go with his smoked planked Camembert with jalapeños and pepper jelly.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 27, 2016
The floor is planked with rough boards, and in places I can see clear through to the ground below.
From "Orphan Train" by Christina Baker Kline
This means the site, which includes planking, frames, fixtures and fittings, can be dived on but should remain untouched.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2024
The pangrams from yesterday’s Spelling Bee were painkilling and planking.
From New York Times ● Apr. 8, 2023
What they brought was a piece of brick that was likely part of the ship’s steam boiler, and planking from its hull.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 25, 2022
Suffice to say, you won't catch Charles Barkley planking anytime soon, but it's clear his true vendetta lies with vegetables, the insidious little tubulars that infiltrate our bodies minds with without us even knowing it.
From Golf Digest ● Feb. 3, 2020
Harry looked down at the boards planking the porch, then raised his eyes and gazed off into the dark, wet woods over Joe’s shoulder.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
