/pleɪs/, [pl̥eɪs], [pleːs]
OriginFrom Middle English place, conflation of Old English plæċe (“place, an open space, street”) and Old French place (“place, an open space”), both from Latin platea (“plaza, wide street”), from Ancient Greek πλατεῖα (plateîa), shortening of πλατεῖα ὁδός (plateîa hodós, “broad way”), from Proto-Indo-European *pleth₂- (“to spread”), extended form of *pleh₂- (“flat”). Displaced native Old English stōw, stede, and -ern. Compare also English pleck (“plot of ground”), West Frisian plak (“place, spot, location”), Dutch plek (“place, spot, patch”). Doublet of piatza, piazza, and plaza.
- countable, physical, uncountableAn open space, particularly a city square, market square, or courtyard.
“Ay, sir, the other squirrel was stolen from me by the hangman's boys in the market-place”
- countable, often, physical, uncountableA street, sometimes but not always surrounding a public place, square, or plaza of the same name.
“They live at Westminster Place.”
- countable, physical, uncountableAn inhabited area: a village, town, or city.
- countable, physical, uncountableAny area of the earth: a region.
“He is going back to his native place on vacation.”
“From another point of view, it was a place without a soul. The well-to-do had hearts of stone; the rich were brutally bumptious; the Press, the Municipality, all the public men, were ridiculously, vai”
- countable, physical, uncountableThe area one occupies, particularly somewhere to sit.
“We asked the restaurant to give us a table with three places.”
- countable, physical, uncountableThe area where one lives: one's home, formerly (chiefly) country estates and farms.
“My Lady Dedlock has been down at what she calls, in familiar conversation, her "place" in Lincolnshire.”
“Do you want to come over to my place later?”
- countable, physical, uncountableAn area of the body, especially the skin.
“Which place hurts the most?”
- countable, euphemistic, physical, slang, uncountableAn area to urinate and defecate: an outhouse or lavatory.
“Place,... (2) a jakes, or house of ease.”
“‘I guess I'll take this opportunity to go to the place’...
‘She means the little girls room.’”
- countable, obsolete, physical, uncountableAn area to fight: a battlefield or the contested ground in a battle.
- countable, uncountableA location or position in space.
“In that same place thou hast appointed me,
To-morrow truly will I meete with thee.”
“What place can be for us / Within heaven's bound?”
“When you're well enough off so's you don't have to fret about anything but your heft or your diseases you begin to get queer, I suppose. And the queerer the cure for those ailings the bigger the attra”
- countable, uncountableA particular location in a book or document, particularly the current location of a reader
“I lost my place when you interrupted me.”
- countable, obsolete, uncountableA passage or extract from a book or document.
- countable, obsolete, rhetoric, uncountableA topic.
- countable, uncountableA state of mind.
“I'm in a strange place at the moment.”
- countable, obsolete, uncountableA chess position; a square of the chessboard.
- countable, uncountableA role or purpose; a station.
“It is really not my place to say what is right and wrong in this case.”
“I know my place as I would they should do theirs.”
“Escalus.Esc.I shall desire you, Sir, to giue me leaue
To haue free speech with you; and it concernes me
To looke into the bottome of my place :
A powre I haue, but of what strength and nature,
I am no”
- countable, uncountableThe position of a contestant in a competition.
“We thought we would win but only ended up in fourth place.”
- countable, uncountableThe position of first, second, or third at the finish, especially the second position.
“to win a bet on a horse for place”
- countable, uncountableThe position as a member of a sports team.
“He lost his place in the national team.”
- countable, obsolete, uncountableA fortified position: a fortress, citadel, or walled town.
- countable, uncountableNumerically, the column counting a certain quantity.
“three decimal places; the hundreds place”
- countable, uncountableOrdinal relation; position in the order of proceeding.
“That's what I said in the first place!”
“a. 1788, Mather Byles, quoted in The Life of James Otis by William Tudor
In the first place, I do not understand politics; in the second place, you all do, every man and mother's son of you; in the th”
- countable, uncountableReception; effect; implying the making room for.
“My word hath no place in you.”
- transitiveTo put (someone or something) in a specific location.
“He placed the glass on the table.”
“to place someone on a pedestal”
“His life vvas nigh vnto deaths dore yplaſte, / And thred-bare cote, and cobled ſhoes hee vvare, […]”
- ergativeTo earn a given spot in a competition; to rank at a certain position ((often followed by an ordinal)).
“The Cowboys placed third in the league.”
“Run Ragged was placed fourth in the race.”
- ergative, intransitiveTo finish second, especially of horses or dogs.
“In the third race: Aces Up won, paying eight dollars; Blarney Stone placed, paying three dollars; and Cinnamon showed, paying five dollars.”
- transitiveTo remember where and when (an object or person) has been previously encountered.
“I've seen him before, but I can't quite place where.”
- transitiveTo vouch for someone's alibi.
“The librarian was placed at home by her neighbor at the time of the murder.”
- transitiveTo sing (a note) with the correct pitch.
- transitiveTo make.
“We were all focused intently on the triangular conference call speaker in the middle of the table. President Trump's communications team was placing a call to President Volodymyr Zelenksy of Ukraine, ”
“to place a call”
“to place an order”
- transitiveTo bet.
“I placed ten dollars on the Lakers beating the Bulls.”
- transitiveTo recruit or match an appropriate person for a job, or a home for an animal for adoption, etc.
“They phoned hoping to place her in the management team.”
“Designated as the core of the southern forces were: the 5th Division, which was recalled from northern French Indochina to Shanghai, placed under the direct control of Imperial Headquarters, and, on O”
- transitiveTo place-kick (a goal).
- transitiveTo assign (more or less value) to something.
“My workplace places a high premium on team spirit.”
“She places little value on religion.”
- countable, uncountableA surname.
- countable, uncountableAn unincorporated community in the town of Farmington, Strafford County, New Hampshire, United States.
Formsplaces(plural) · pleace(alternative) · places(present, singular, third-person) · placing(participle, present) · placed(participle, past) · placed(past) · place(infinitive) · place(first-person, present, singular) · placed(first-person, past, singular) · place(present, second-person, singular) · placest(archaic, present, second-person, singular) · placed(past, second-person, singular) · placedst(archaic, past, second-person, singular) · placeth(archaic, present, singular, third-person) · placed(past, singular, third-person) · place(plural, present) · placed(past, plural) · place(present, subjunctive) · placed(past, subjunctive) · place(imperative, present)