I. ˈplās noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French, open space in a city, space, locality, from Latin platea broad street, from Greek plateia ( hodos ), from feminine of platys broad, flat; akin to Sanskrit pṛthu broad, Latin planta sole of the foot
1.
a. : a way for admission or transit
calling “ place ! place !” to clear the way for their master — G.P.R.James
place is made for it on his class schedule — H.W.Dodds
b. : physical environment : space
all are strangers, rootless in place or time — T.H.White b.1915
c. : physical surroundings : atmosphere
the feeling for place was in him like the feeling for a personality — R.L.Cook
2.
a. : an indefinite region or expanse : area
visit the far places of the earth
small supplies of foreign ore … brought from places like No. Africa — Samuel Van Valkenburg & Ellsworth Huntington
schools continued to spring up all over the place — Bernard Kalb
b.
(1) : a building or locality used for a special purpose
place of amusement
place of worship
a secondhand car place — Robert Westerby
specifically : eating place
found a little Italian place with an eighty-five cent dinner — Mary McCarthy
(2) archaic : an assembly point
posted upon a parade, or place of arms — Daniel Defoe
c. archaic : the three-dimensional compass of a material object
in the world I fill up a place which may be better supplied when I have made it empty — Shakespeare
d. : where
wished he could go some place and run a lunchroom — Time
has no place to turn for allies — M.H.Rubin
the magic rests, more than any place else, in a sense of ambiguity — M.F.Harrington
3.
a. : a particular region or center of population
Britain is an ideal place to tour by bus — Richard Joseph
Denver, Salt Lake City, and hundreds of other places, large and small — Motor Transportation in the West
b. : an individual dwelling or estate : house , homestead
invited them to his place for the evening
our twenty-eight-acre place on the edge of Baltimore — A.W.Turnbull
specifically : farm
a few places were … harrowing summer fallow — H.L.Davis
c. : a fortified military post
to effect the release of … Americans held there, a group of American settlers in Texas attacked the place — E.C.Barker
d. : scene I 3
4.
a. : a particular portion of a surface : specific locality : spot
worn place in a rug
sore place on the back of the hand
steep place in the road
this is the right place — M.R.Werner
b.
(1) : a passage in a piece of writing
in places he might have been a little bolder in dealing with the … text — G.R.Crone
(2) obsolete : a selected passage : text
comparing two places of Scripture — Thomas Fuller
(3) : the point at which a reader left off
dropped the book and lost her place
c. obsolete : locus classicus
5.
a.
(1) : relative position in the social scale : degree of prestige
put the country people in their place , and with a few tactful rebuffs … checked any undue familiarity — Lord Dunsany
color drew a line around several million people who were thereby condemned to permanent inferiority of place — Oscar Handlin
(2) : relative position of merit in any context : degree of importance
the place of health in the life of the individual — Marie Theresa
decisions which have brought our science and our engineering to their present place — H.S.Truman
b. : a step in a sequence
in the first place , the house … is haunted — Charles Lee
from eleventh place … the city rose to seventh — American Guide Series: Maryland
c.
(1) : one of the leading positions at the finish of a horse race — used of 1st or usually 2d in the United States and of 1st, 2d, or 3d in England
(2) : a leading position at the conclusion of any competition entitling the contestant to a prize or special recognition
1st place in the dog show
won a 2d place in the handcrafts division
6.
a.
(1) : a proper or designated niche
the junior college has a place to fill in this emergency — L.L.Medsker
scientific names are the surest way of indicating to biologists of various nations the places of insects … in the natural world — E.S.McCartney
whenever an artist has a reasoned conception of any musical work as a unit … tempos naturally fall into place — Virgil Thomson
(2) : a normal or suitable environment
a frontier plantation … was no place to educate a boy — T.J.Wertenbaker
turns to individual personality as the logical place to study cultural integration — H.J.Muller
b. : a fitting moment or appropriate point in a discussion
this is not the place to discuss compensation — Robert Moses
c. obsolete : a reasonable basis : ground
there is no place of doubting but that it was the very same — Henry Hammond
7.
a.
(1) : an available seat or accommodation
places were booked for him in the boat train — John Buchan
has a 2- place sailplane
Eton's 1100 nonscholarship places are booked solid until 1971 — Newsweek
especially : a seat at a table
a man drinking a glass of orange juice was sitting at the table … and two places farther along a second man was munching a piece of toast — Hamilton Basso
(2) : place setting
seldom … sat down to a meal without laying one or two extra places for friends — David Garnett
b. : an empty or vacated position
coffeehouses supplied in some measure the place of a journal — T.B.Macaulay
lost his bike and had to get another in its place
c. : a position dictated by circumstance
put yourself in my place
in a tight place they still call on the North Wind — Alfred Duggan
8. : the position of a figure in relation to others of a row or series ; especially : the position of a digit within a numeral
12 is a two place number
in 316 the figure 1 is in the tens place
9.
a. : remunerative employment : job
rather starve than take a place as a servant — Ellen Glasgow
was offered a place on the Times to do political reporting — Irish Digest
especially : public office
no judge of a high court … views the function of his place so narrowly — B.N.Cardozo
b.
(1) : a position of responsibility
a policy imposed by a corrupt use of pension and place — J.H.Plumb
(2) : a duty accompanying a position of responsibility
it was not his place to make the final decision
c. : the prestige accorded to one in an influential position : rank , status
would on no terms either collaborate with … or yield place to him — Times Literary Supplement
spent the remainder of her life … in an endless quest for preferment and place — Time
10.
a. : a public square : plaza
b. : a short street or court ; often : dead end
•
- in place
- in place of
- out of place
- place in the sun
- upon the place
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
transitive verb
1. : to distribute in an orderly manner : arrange , dispose , station
the furniture has been placed for a definite reason — Betty Fisk
before the artist put any of the black in his picture … he placed all the principal branches — Ernest Knaufft
five … strategically placed seaports — R.S.Thoman
shows the emperor placing and giving orders to his artillery — Tom Wintringham
2.
a. : to put into or as if into a particular position : cause to rest or lie : set , fix
would place a finger on the list of figures she was tabulating — Jane Woodfin
carbide … is finely ground and placed in electric cyanamide ovens — N.R.Heiden
waste … talent and potential leadership by placing higher education beyond their reach — L.M.Chamberlain
the growing railroad system placed increasing demands on iron and coal mines — R.H.Brown
we have … been rather better placed than some to weigh the particular criticisms — Barbara Ward
place our faith in knowledge — H.I.Poleman
b. : to present for consideration — used with before
the pending debate should be placed before a larger audience — Leo Cherne
c. : to put into a particular condition or state
place the company in a better financial position
place a performer under contract
the airlines placed modern equipment into service — H.G.Armstrong
d. : to direct accurately to a desired area or previously determined spot
disrupted the defenses with his uncanny ability to place the ball — A.J.Daley
the bombs were placed directly upon the assigned target — Tex McCrary & D.E.Scherman
e. : to cause (the voice) to produce singing or speaking tones that are free and well resonated with reference to the adjustment of the vocal organs and resonance cavities
3. : to appoint to a position
was made lieutenant colonel and placed in command of a company — L.S.Mayo
4.
a. : to find a place for: as
(1) : to secure employment for
place the girl as a typist
aims … to place all physically handicapped persons in remunerative positions — American Guide Series: Minnesota
(2) : to find a residence for (a homeless child)
boarding out with foster parents is the method to be given first consideration in placing a child — Social Services in British
b.
(1) : to find a publisher for (as a novel)
the manuscript was … submitted to a literary agent in New York who was unable to place it — Haldeen Braddy
(2) : to find a producer for (as a play)
5.
a.
(1) : to assign to a position in an order of progression : rank
of the factors of strategic intelligence … geography is often placed first — G.B. & Charlotte L. Dyer
fails to sustain that mysterious quality of life which would place it among the real masterpieces of the novel — Carlos Lynes
(2) : estimate
the same area has iron ore reserves placed at 1.3 billion metric tons — Americana Annual
b.
(1) : to assign to a chronological position
the estimated time of burial was placed in the early Tintah stage — Meridel Le Sueur
(2) : to assign to a category
relatively profuse body hair clearly places the Caucasoids closest of all living races to the lower primates — Weston La Barre
(3) : to recognize by identifying characteristics
listening and placing the sounds that break the silence of a winter night — Rose Feld
specifically : to recall in context from a previous association
the man looked familiar but he couldn't place him — Willard Robertson
c.
(1) : to determine or announce the place of (contestants) in a race
judges must occupy the judges' box … and their sole duty shall be to place the horses — Dan Parker
(2) : to succeed in gaining a position for in a contest or competition
placed two men on the … Olympic team — American Guide Series: Connecticut
6. archaic : attribute , ascribe
placed it all to judicious affection — Jane Austen
7.
a. : to use (money) for the purchase or development of property for financial gain : invest
place a million dollars in bonds
place half of the capital of the firm in plane production
b.
(1) : to give (an order for goods or services) to a supplier
place an order for a new generator
place an order to have the house painted
(2) : to give an order for (a service)
place a telephone call
place a bet
placed his insurance with another company
intransitive verb
1. : to earn a top spot in a competition
only the first three men or women to place in each event are honored — Collier's Year Book
placed third in the bridge tournament
specifically : to come in second in a horse race
bet on each horse to win, place , or show
2. : to propel an object accurately to a predetermined spot
you cannot place to a yard by means of shoulder and arm energy alone — Manchester Guardian Weekly
Synonyms: see set