park

Noun

park (plural parks)

1. A tract of ground kept in its natural state, about or adjacent to a residence, such as for the preservation of game, for walking, riding, or the like.
   • She went to the park for a jog with him.
   • 17th century, Edmund Waller, At Penshurst
     While in the park I sing, the listening deer / Attend my passion, and forget to fear.
2. A piece of ground in or near a city or town, enclosed and kept for ornament and recreation.
   • Hyde Park in London; Central Park in New York
   • If the afternoon was fine they strolled together in the park, very slowly, and with pauses to draw breath wherever the ground sloped upward. The slightest effort made the patient cough.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

   Synonyms:

   courtyard, garden, plaza

3. An enclosed parcel of land stocked with animals for hunting, which one may have by prescription or royal grant.
4. (US) A wide, flat-bottomed valley in a mountainous region.
   • The mountain region thus limited consists of extensive and often level-floored valleys, sometimes many miles broad, and elevated 4,000 to 5,000 feet above the sea, called "parks" in local topography, which are interposed between innumerable rocky mountain ridges ....1878, The San Francisco Western Lancet. a Journal of Practical Medicine and Surgery, volume 7, number 3
   • High Park is a depression of 10 or 12 square miles in extent […] at a general elevation of 7,500 feet. Its smooth floor is partly due to volcanic tuff of the western volcanic area, but chielfly to a find lake-bed deposit of yellowish sandstone....1895, Whitman Cross, Richard Alexander Fullerton Penrose, Geology and Mining Industries of the Cripple Creek District, Colorado, page 54
5. An open space occupied by or reserved for vehicles, matériel or stores.
   • a wagon park; an artillery park
6. A partially enclosed basin in which oysters are grown.
7. An area zoned for a particular (industrial or commercial) purpose.
   • business park; industrial park; science park
   • Across Japan, technology companies and private investors are racing to install devices that until recently they had little interest in: solar panels. Massive solar parks are popping up as part of a rapid build-up that one developer likened to an "explosion."2013 June 21, Chico Harlan, “Japan pockets the subsidy …”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 30
8. An area on which a sporting match is played; (soccer) a pitch.
   • But because of their dominance in the middle of the park and the sheer volume of chances, Sunderland boss Steve Bruce must have been staggered and sickened in equal measure when the visitors took the lead five minutes after the break.2010 December 28, Owen Phillips, “Sunderland 0-2 Blackpool”, in BBC
9. (UK) An inventory of matériel.
   • A country's tank park or artillery park.
10. (Australia, New Zealand, colloquial) A space in which to leave a car; a parking space.
    • We got to the 9ᵗʰ Ward and as luck would have it I found a park for my bro′s car right out the front.2003, “Johnny”, "Melbourne Blackout", in Sleazegrinder (editor), Gigs from Hell: True Stories from Rock and Roll′s Frontline, page 174
    • Once they′d entered the floors of parking spaces, James found a park relatively easily, but Mark had difficulty, and only a swift sprint allowed him to catch up as James walked through the throngs of people in the casino with the determination of a man who didn′t want to be delayed.2010, Sandy Curtis, Dangerous Deception, Australia: Clan Destine Press, unnumbered page
11. The gear into which one shifts an automatic transmission when one is parking a car or truck. (Denoted with symbol P on a shifter's labeling.)
    • If a car seems to be refusing to let you shift out of park, recall that many cars have a safety interlock which requires that your foot must be pressing on the brake pedal before you can shift out of park.

Verb

park (third-person singular simple present parks, present participle parking, simple past and past participle parked)

1. (transitive) To bring (something such as a vehicle) to a halt or store in a specified place.
   • You can park the car in front of the house.
   • I parked the drive heads of my hard disk before travelling with my laptop.

   Antonyms:

   unpark

2. (figuratively, informal, transitive) To defer (a matter) until a later date.
   • Let's park that until next week's meeting.
   • The Harry Potter spin-off prequel series Fantastic Beasts has been “parked” by Warner Bros, according to its director David Yates.2023 October 27, “Fantastic Beasts: JK Rowling franchise has been ‘parked’, director says”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
3. (transitive) To bring together in a park, or compact body.
   • to park artillery, wagons, automobiles, etc.
4. (transitive) To enclose in a park, or as in a park.
   • O, negligent and heedless discipline!
     How are we park'd and bounded in a pale,
     A little herd of England's timorous deer,
     Mazed with a yelping kennel of French curs!1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
5. (transitive) To hit a home run; to hit the ball out of the park.
   • He really parked that one.
6. (US, intransitive, slang) To engage in romantic or sexual activities inside a nonmoving vehicle that was driven to a suitable spot for that purpose.
   • They stopped at a romantic overlook, shut off the engine, and parked.
   • "What did you do after that?" he asked. - "Went parking over at Silver Lake," replied Betty without hesitation. "Why?" - "I just wondered. Have fun?" "As a matter of fact, I did. Marty's a swell dancer." "That's not what I meant." "What did you mean?" - "I mean after. Parking." - "Yes I did […]"1956, Grace Metalious, Peyton Place, page 199
7. (informal, reflexive, sometimes, transitive) To sit, recline, or put, especially in a manner suggesting an intent to remain for some time.
   • He came in and parked himself in our living room.
   • Park your bags in the hall.
8. (transitive) To invest money temporarily in an investment instrument considered to relatively free of risk, especially while awaiting other opportunities.
   • We decided to park our money in a safe, stable, low-yield bond fund until market conditions improve.
9. (Internet) To register a domain name, but make no use of it (See domain parking)
10. (transitive, oyster culture) To enclose in a park, or partially enclosed basin.
11. (dated, intransitive) To promenade or drive in a park.
12. (dated, intransitive) To display style or gait on a park drive.

Proper noun (1) capitalized: Park

Park

1. An English surname.
2. A river in central Connecticut.
3. A village in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland (Irish grid ref C 5802).
4. A large area of Lewis, Western Isles council area, Scotland.
5. A community and ward in Merthyr Tydfil borough, Wales.

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Park

UK[pʰɑːk]Australia[pʰaːk]

Park (plural Parks)

1. A surname from Korean. Alternative form of Bak.
   • Centring on the tension between the Kims, a basement-dwelling family of “dirt spoons” in Seoul, and the Parks, a family at the opposite end of the social spectrum, Parasite’s plot is predicated on the widening gap between the haves and the have nots in Asia’s fourth-biggest economy.2020 February 16, Justin McCurry, Nemo Kim, “Parasite: how Oscar triumph has exposed South Korea’s social divide”, in The Observer, archived from the original on 10 Apr 2022
   • " I can't believe that this is happening in America," Park told NPR in an interview prior to his departure.2025 June 24, Juliana Kim, “Purple Heart Army veteran self-deports after nearly 50 years in the U.S.”, in NPR, archived from the original on 02 Aug 2025