platform
verbEtymology From Middle French plateforme (“a flat form”), from plate (“flat”) (from Old French plat, from Ancient Greek πλατύς (platús, “flat”)) + forme (“form”) (from Latin fōrma (“shape; figure; form”)); compare flatscape.
7 senses
- 1To furnish with or shape into a platform
- 2To place on, or as if on, a platform.
- 3To place a train alongside a station platform.
- 4To include in a political platform
- 5To publish or make visible; to provide a platform for (a…
- 6To open (a film) in a small number of theaters before a…
- 7To form a plan of; to model; to lay out.
1
To furnish with or shape into a platform
- […] upon a smiling knoll platformed by Nature […]1885, Frances Elliot, The Diary of an Idle Woman in Sicily, page 192:
2
To place on, or as if on, a platform.
- And this dog was satisfied / If a pale thin hand would glide / Down his dewlaps sloping / Which he pushed his nose within, / After—platforming his chin / On the palm left open.1844, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, To Flush, My Dog:
3
Rail transport, Railways, Transport To place a train alongside a station platform.
- There he was welcomed onboard Vivarail's new three-car battery-powered train and Porterbrook's HydroFLEX hydrogen-powered train, which had been platformed side-by-side to showcase the potential of these low-carbon alternative technologies.2021 December 1, Paul Stephen, “Network News: Battery and hydrogen trains showcased to PM at COP26”, in RAIL, number 945, page 14:
4
Government, Politics To include in a political platform
- Among them I scarcely can plot out one truth / Plain enough to be platformed by some voting sleuth / And paraded before the precinct polling-booth.1955, Amy Lowell, Complete Poetical Works, page 408:
5
To publish or make visible; to provide a platform for (a topic etc.).
- We want to platform the larger, unspoken issue of menstrual health and hygiene of women at work, and how we as a society need to start taking cognizance of it and start adopting measures to help our women workforce navigate it with ease.2020 May 28, Bhumika Popli, “Menstrual Hygiene Day: Changing mindsets with ‘period leave’”, in The New Indian Express:
- If Buckley were still alive today, could a university get away with platforming him in a debate?2020 July 29, Conor Friedersdorf, “Purity Politics Makes Nothing Happen”, in The Atlantic:
2 more examples
- Half of the lawsuits against Pina also named Envy (real name: Raashaun Casey), blaming the DJ for platforming Pina on The Breakfast Club and social media.2023 December 17, Andrew Lawrence, “It platformed an alleged fraudster. Can hip-hop’s biggest radio show survive the fallout?”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
- “The ‘how dare you platform someone you disagree with’ era is over. Fuck that.”2025 March 17, Andrew Marantz, quoting Tommy Vietor, “The Battle for the Bros”, in The New Yorker, →ISSN:
6
Broadcasting, Film, Media, Television To open (a film) in a small number of theaters before a broader release in order to generate enthusiasm.
- But serious movies are not necessarily good movies. A studio that decides to platform a film had better be sure the film will get the necessary good reviews and audience approval. Otherwise, like United Artists' "A Small Circle of Friends," which was platformed around the same time as "The Elephant Man," the film will fail calamitously.1981 September 2, Aljean Harmetz, “Comes Fall, a Chance for Serious Movies?”, in The New York Times, page C21:
- Each of these films will be "platformed," the industry term to describe the strategy of opening a movie first in a limited number of theaters to give it an aura of exclusivity, then having its appeal build through word of mouth.1993 November 25, Bernard Weinraub, “For Movie Industry, Thanksgiving Means A Box-Office Feast”, in The New York Times, page C11:
7
Obsolete To form a plan of; to model; to lay out.
- I have ſaid what is meet to ſome who do not think it for the eaſe of their inconſequent Opinions, to grant that Church-Diſcipline is platform'd in the Bible, but that it is left to the diſcretion of Men.1642, John Milton, The Reason of Church-Government Urg’d against Prelaty; republished in A Complete Collection of the Historical, Political, and Miscellaneous Works of John Milton, […], volume I, Amsterdam [actually London: s.n.], 1698, →OCLC, page 202: