plank
UK/ˈplæŋk/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
British/ˈplaŋk/
plank noun: a flat piece of wood on which to cook fish, so that the wood provides flavor and helps to produce a pleasing texture.
Noun
plank (plural planks)
- A flat piece of wood on which to cook fish, so that the wood provides flavor and helps to produce a pleasing texture.
- A dish called "plank salmon" likely includes a salmon filet cooked on a plank.
- An object made of planks; planking.
- A solid and substantial portion of an ingredient with a flat side, cooked and served whole.
- That dish is served with a plank of cauliflower.
- Synonyms:
- steak
- Physical exercise in which one holds a position (usually with a flat back, like a plank) for a measured length of time.
- A political issue that is of concern to a faction or a party of the people and the political position that is taken on that issue.
- Germanization was a central plank of German conservative thinking in the 19th and 20th centuries.
- When Mr. Dole had been asked at the Republican convention about the same immigration amendment—one of the more conservative and sensitive planks—he did not oppose it, but said he would have to think long and hard before supporting it.1996 August 24, Frank Bruni, “Dole Rejects a Party Plank”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
- A stupid person, idiot.
- Synonyms:
- addle-brain, addlehead, addle pate, airhead, baboon, beanbrain, beetlebrain, beetlehead, berk, bimbo
- That which supports or upholds.
- His charity is a better plank than the faith of an intolerant and bitter-minded bigot.1829, Robert Southey, Sir Thomas More; or, Colloquies on the Progress and Prospects of Society
Verb
plank (third-person singular simple present planks, present participle planking, simple past and past participle planked)
- To cover something with planking.
- to plank a floor or a ship
- Plank'd with pine.1697, Virgil, “The Second Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC
- To bake (fish, etc.) on a piece of cedar lumber.
- Along the lower river, planked shad dinners (baked and broiled) were highly popular during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.1998, Richard Gerstell, American Shad in the Susquehanna River Basin, page 147
- To lay down, as on a plank or table; to stake or pay cash.
- to plank money in a wager
- Joe planked the money down in the officer of a newspaper editor and awaited results. There weren't any.1963, George Blaikie, Scandals of Australia's Strange Past, Adelaide: Rigby Limited, page 117
- To harden, as hat bodies, by felting.
- To splice together the ends of slivers of wool, for subsequent drawing.
- To pose for a photograph while lying rigid, face down, arms at side, in an unusual place.
- The woman, known as Claudia, fell from a 2m wall after earlier demonstrating the wrong way to plank on a small stool while holding a bottle of wine. A friend said some guests had not heard of planking and Claudia was demonstrating how ridiculous it was.2011 May 23, “Party finishes up in plonking after attempt at planking in Kingsford”, in Herald Sun
- Perth man Simon Carville became an internet sensation after he was photographed planking naked in the arms of famous Perth statue the Eliza.2011 May 24, “Tourists snapped planking at iconic landmarks around the world”, in The Australian
Proper noun capitalized: Plank
Plank (plural Planks)
- A surname.
plank meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
plank in Hindi
- plank, board, piece of wood
- पटरा paṭrā
- plank
- सिल्ली sillī
plank in Tamil
- பலகை
plank in Urdu
- لوح, پٹرا, تختہ, تختی
plank in Bengali
- কাঠের তক্তা, প্ল্যাঙ্ক
More languagesFewer languages
- plank in Telugu
- నేతపలక nētapalaka, పట్టిక paṭṭika, పలక palaka
- plank in Malayalam
- പലക palaka, ഫലകം phalakaṁ
- plank in Kannada
- ಹಲಗೆ halage
- plank in Punjabi
- ਪਲਾਂਕ
- plank in Gujarati
- પાટિયું pāṭiyũ
- plank in Sanskrit
- ईषा īṣā́
- plank in Assamese
- তক্তা tokta
- plank in Nepali
- प्लाङ्क गर्न
- plank in Arabic
- عَارِضَة ʕāriḍa
- plank in Malay
- papan
- plank in Indonesian
- papan
- plank in Persian
- تخته taxte
- plank in Thai
- กระดาน grà-daan
Examples of plank in a sentence
- The central plank of their ‘neo-liberal’ model was that growth and development depended on market competitiveness; […]2011, Guy Standing, chapter 1, in The Precariat, Bloomsbury Publishing, published 2016, →ISBN:
- Their supporters marched for everything from ending nuclear power to enacting gay rights — while maintaining the key plank of environmental protection.2025 February 24, Rina Goldenberg, “A guide to Germany's political parties”, in Deutsche Welle:
Synonyms of plank
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of plank
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | planks |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | planks |
| present participle | planking |
| past participle | planked |
| past | planked |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Planks |
Origin of plank
From Middle English plank, planke, borrowed from Old French planke, Old Northern French planque (compare French planche, from Old French planche), from Vulgar Latin planca, from palanca, from Latin phalanga. The Latin term derives from the Ancient Greek φάλαγξ (phálanx), so it is thus a doublet of phalange and phalanx. Compare also the doublets planch, planche, and plancha, borrowed later from Middle French, Modern French, and Spanish, respectively.
Words formed from plank
- Copenhagen plank
- gangplank
- gang plank
- gang-plank
- hub plank
- plankage
- plank bed
- plankboard
- plank down
- planker
- plank house
- plankless
- planklike
- plank road
- plank root
- plank-sheer
- plank spanker
- plank up
- plankway
- plankwise
- planky
- replank
- side plank
- spike plank
- stage plank
- stop plank
- thick as a plank
- toe the plank
- two-forty on a plank road
- unplank
- walk the plank
Phrases with plank
- plank beds
- plank owner
- plank roads
- plank roots
- plank houses
- plank owners
- plank spankers
- toed the plank
- toes the plank
- walks the plank
- toeing the plank
- walked the plank
1 more phrasesFewer phrases
Words that rhyme with plank
Questions about plank
- What does plank mean?
- Plank means a flat piece of wood on which to cook fish, so that the wood provides flavor and helps to produce a pleasing texture.
- What is plank in Hindi?
- Plank in Hindi is पटरा (paṭrā), सिल्ली (sillī). See Plank meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use plank in a sentence?
- The central plank of their ‘neo-liberal’ model was that growth and development depended on market competitiveness; […]
- What part of speech is plank?
- Plank can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce plank?
- Plank is pronounced /ˈplæŋk/ (UK).
- What is the plural of plank?
- The plural of plank is planks.
Words near plank in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: plank (page history and authors); Plank (page history and authors); पटरा (Hindi) (page history and authors); plank (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); plank (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); plank (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); నేతపలక (Telugu) (page history and authors); പലക (Malayalam) (page history and authors); ಹಲಗೆ (Kannada) (page history and authors); plank (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); પાટિયું (Gujarati) (page history and authors); ईषा (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); তক্তা (Assamese) (page history and authors); plank (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-plank.ogg.
Cite this entry: “plank.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/plank. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.