walks the plank
walks the plank is the third-person singular simple present indicative of walk the plank.
Meaning of walk the plank
Verb
walk the plank (third-person singular simple present walks the plank, present participle walking the plank, simple past and past participle walked the plank)
- On an early naval vessel or pirate ship: to be forced to walk off the end of a gangplank (a plank of wood extending outwards from the side of the vessel) and plunge into the ocean and drown, used as a method of killing.
- Walking the Plank. A mode of deſtroying devoted perſons or officers in a mutiny on ſhip-board, by blindfolding them, and obliging them to walk on a plank laid over the ſhip's ſide; by this means, as the mutineers ſuppoſe, avoiding the penalty of murder.[1788, [Francis Grose], “Walking the Plank”, in A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 2nd edition, London: […] S[amuel] Hooper, […], →OCLC
- Synonyms:
- walk the gangplank
- To be forced to resign from a position in an organization.
- After he was caught selling company secrets, it’s not surprising they made him walk the plank.
- Synonyms:
- walk the gangplank
Questions about walks the plank
- What is walks the plank the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
- Walks the plank is the third-person singular simple present indicative of walk the plank.
Words near walks the plank in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: walks the plank (page history and authors); walk the plank (page history and authors). 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.
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