From Middle English place, conflation of Old English plæċe (“place, an open space, street”) and Old French place (“place, an open space”), both from Latin platēa (“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 (partially), 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. In the etymological chain from Latin platēa, note Old French place, which has multiple descendants — including German Platz, itself with many descendants (e.g., Russian плац (plac)). Also note a more distant chain node Ancient Greek πλατύς (platús), whence English Plato and English plate (via Latin).
Physical An 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-placec. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iv]:
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Often, Physical, In street names or addresses A street, sometimes but not always surrounding a public place, square, or plaza of the same name.
They live at Westminster Place.
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Physical An inhabited area: a village, town, or city.
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, vaingloriously self-satisfied.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
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Physical The area one occupies, particularly somewhere to sit.
We asked the restaurant to give us a table with three places.
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Physical The 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.1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, chapter 2, in Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC:
Do you want to come over to my place later?
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Physical An area of the body, especially the skin.
Place,... (2) a jakes, or house of ease.1901, John Stephen Farmer et al., Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present, volume V, page 220:
‘I guess I'll take this opportunity to go to the place’... ‘She means the little girls room.’1951, William Styron, chapter II, in Lie Down in Darkness, page 59:
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Obsolete, Physical An area to fight: a battlefield or the contested ground in a battle.
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A location or position in space.
I'll check places I think she might be.
In that same place thou hast appointed me, To-morrow truly will I meete with thee.c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene v]:
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What place can be for us / Within heaven's bound?1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
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 attraction. A place like the Right Livers' Rest was bound to draw freaks, same as molasses draws flies.1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter V, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
By one o'clock the place was choc-a-bloc. […] The restaurant was packed, and the promenade between the two main courts and the subsidiary courts was thronged with healthy-looking youngish people, drawn to the Mecca of tennis from all parts of the country.1935, George Goodchild, chapter 5, in Death on the Centre Court:
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Proper or usual position.
A place for everything, and everything in its place.
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A particular location in a book or document, particularly the current location of a reader
I lost my place when you interrupted me.
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Obsolete A passage or extract from a book or document.
› A responsibility or position in an organization.
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A 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.c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene v]:
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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 not yet instructed.c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
Men in great place are thrice servants.1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Great Place”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:
The [Washington] Post's proprietor through those turbulent [Watergate] days, Katharine Graham, held a double place in Washington’s hierarchy: at once regal Georgetown hostess and scrappy newshound, ready to hold the establishment to account.2013 August 10, Lexington, “Keeping the mighty honest”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848:
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The position of a contestant in a competition.
We thought we would win but only ended up in fourth place.
Obsolete A fortified position: a fortress, citadel, or walled town.
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Numerically, the column counting a certain quantity.
three decimal places; the hundreds place
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Ordinal 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 third place, you have politics all the week, pray let one day in the seven be devoted to religion […]
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Reception; effect, implying the making room for.
My word hath no place in you.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, John 8:37:
To put (someone or something) in a specific location.
He placed the glass on the table.
to place someone on a pedestal
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His life vvas nigh vnto deaths dore yplaſte, / And thred-bare cote, and cobled ſhoes hee vvare, […]1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto IIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 28, page 53:
Meanwhile Nanny Broome was recovering from her initial panic and seemed anxious to make up for any kudos she might have lost, by exerting her personality to the utmost. She took the policeman's helmet and placed it on a chair, and unfolded his tunic to shake it and fold it up again for him.1963, Margery Allingham, chapter XIX, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
Similar studies of rats have employed four different intracranial resorbable, slow sustained release systems—[…]. Such a slow-release device containing angiogenic factors could be placed on the pia mater covering the cerebral cortex and tested in persons with senile dementia in long term studies.2013 May-June, Charles T. Ambrose, “Alzheimer’s Disease”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 200:
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Ergative To earn a given spot in a competition; to rank at a certain position ((often followed by an ordinal)).
In the third race: Aces Up won, paying eight dollars; Blarney Stone placed, paying three dollars; and Cinnamon showed, paying five dollars.
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To remember where and when (an object or person) has been previously encountered.
I've seen him before, but I can't quite place where.
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To vouch for someone's alibi.
The librarian was placed at home by her neighbor at the time of the murder.
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To sing (a note) with the correct pitch.
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In collocations To 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, and we were here to listen.2021, Alexander S. Vindman, “Impeachable Offense”, in Here, Right Matters: An American Story, HarperCollins, →ISBN:
to place a call
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to place an order
to place an ad in the newspaper
to place a bid
to place a bet
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To bet.
I placed ten dollars on the Lakers beating the Bulls.
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To 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 October 12, ordered to “train primarily for landing operations” (Imperial Headquarters Army Order 467); the Imperial Guard Division, which was ordered on October 22 to assemble at Shant’ou (Swatow); the 48th Division, reorganized on October 22 from the Taiwan Mixed Brigade and ordered to advance to Hainan island; and the 18th Division at Canton.1980, Tsunoda Jun, “The Navy's Role in the Southern Strategy”, in Robert A. Scalapino, transl., edited by James William Morley, The Fateful Choice: Japan's Advance into Southeast Asia, 1939-1941, New York: Columbia University Press, sourced from "Nihon no tai-Bei kaisen (1940-nen–1941-nen)," Taiheiyō sensō e no michi, vol. 7, part I, sec. 1, pp. 16–28 and sec. 2, pp. 44–53, 65–88, 109–18., translation of original in Japanese, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 287:
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Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports To place-kick (a goal).
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To assign (more or less value) to something.
My workplace places a high premium on team spirit.