| 释义 |
▪ I. place, n.1|pleɪs|
Forms: (1 Northumb. plæce, plætse, plæse); 3– place, (3 plasce, 3–5 plasse, 4 plass, 4–6 plas(e, 5 plaas, plays, 6 pleaze).
[ME. place, a. F. place (11th c.) = Pr. plassa, Sp. plaza, Pg. praça, It. piazza, med.L. placia:—late L. type *plattia for classical L. platea, broad way, open space, ad. Gr. πλατεῖα (sc. ὁδός) broad way. The L. word had been already taken into Old Northumbrian in the form plæce, plætse, rendering L. platea of the Vulgate; but the history of the current word begins with the adoption of the F. place in sense 2, the mod. use in 1 b. being a more recent borrowing from the Romanic langs. From the latter came also MDu. plaetse, Du. plaats, MHG., Ger. platz, MLG. plas, LG. plâts, plâtse, Icel. pláz (13th c.), Sw. plats, Da. plads. Welsh plâs is app. from ME. Place has superseded OE. stow and (largely) stede; it answers to F. lieu, L. locus, as well as to F. place, and the senses are thus very numerous and difficult to arrange.
With the doubled t of late L. *plattia, cf. the similar phenomenon in *plattus plat (with which platea was prob. associated); also in *pettia piece, *pīccus pike, *pīppa pipe, etc.]
I.
1. An open space in a city; a square, a market-place. †a. Used in OE. to render L. platea of the Vulgate.
a950Durham Ritual (Surtees) 36/7 On plæcvm (in plateis). Ibid. 65/37 In plæcvm. c950Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. vi. 5 Ða ðe lufas in somnungum & huommum ðara plæcena..stondes..to ᵹebiddanne. Ibid. Luke x. 10 Færað on plæcum hire. c975Rushw. Gosp. ibid., Farað on plætsa his.
b. In modern use, forming the second element in the name of a group of houses (and hence of a street) in a town or city, now or formerly possessing some of the characters (positive or negative) of a square, chiefly that of not being properly a street.
Often used in the name of a small area more or less built around, and lying aside from a street or thoroughfare, or of a short cul-de-sac or byway turning out of a main thoroughfare; also, more vaguely given to a short row or ‘terrace’ of houses, which originally stood by themselves on a suburban road; being in fact a ready denomination for any aggregation of houses which cannot be more particularly classed.
Employed in 16th c. to render F. place and its Italian, Spanish, and German cognates, in reference to foreign towns, whence introduced in English towns. (But in some cases the name ‘Place’ has arisen out of sense 4 b, the site being that of a nobleman's or bishop's town-residence, which bore the name, e.g. Ely Place in London.)
1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. i. viii. 7 b, The places and streetes are so well ordeined. 1653H. Cogan tr. Pinto's Trav. xxiii. 86 They conducted him into a great place before the Town Hall. 1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 10 There are in it many lovely Piazza's, or Places. 1700Congreve Way of World i. i. 4 There's such Coupling at Pancras..we were afraid his [the Parson's] Lungs would have fail'd..so we drove round to Duke's Place. 1704Collect. Voy. (Churchill) III. 6/1 Being gone to the Great Place to see the Bull-feast. 1791F. Burney Let. 8 Sept. in Jrnls. & Lett. (1972) I. 55 A House in Laura Place. 1796J. Owen Trav. Europe II. 458 Squares, as we improperly call them in England, but which the Germans, as well as the French and Italians, more properly denominate Places. c1813Byron Devil's Drive iii, I have a state-coach in Carlton House, A chariot in Seymour Place. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. vii. II. 267 At Rome..on the south of the stately place of Navona. 1883Century Mag. Oct. 859/2 From Washington Square upward began the endless succession of ‘places’, and of houses in long, monotonous rows. 1903G. B. Shaw Man & Superman i. 2 Sitting at his writing table, he has on his right the windows giving on Portland Place. 1939Joyce Finnegans Wake (1964) i. 132 First he shot down Raglan Road and then he tore up Marlborough Place. 1972J. McClure Caterpillar Cop iii. 42 Kramer..took the Durban road, watching the street names on his left. He swung into Potter's Place. No 9 Potter's Place was untidier than most.
II. A material space.
2. a. Space; extension in two (or three) directions; ‘room’. arch. † to offer place, to make way, give way (obs.). give place: see 23.
a1225Ancr. R. 258 He ne uond nout on eorðe so muche place as his luttle licome muhte been ileid on. 1382–1571 [see 23]. 1602Carew Cornwall 75 b, For performing this play, the beholders cast themselves in a ring, which they call, Making a place. 1628Hobbes Thucyd. (1822) 85 When they were come in the city had not place for them all. 1654tr. Scudery's Curia Pol. 169 Nature..opposeth those things that do resist her, and gently yeilds to those things which courteously offer place. 1683T. Smith Observ. Constantinople in Misc. Curiosa (1708) III. 41 There is no place between the Propontis and the walls of the City, except just at the Seraglio⁓point,..where they have raised..a battery for Great guns. 1808Scott Marm. i. xii, Place, nobles, for the Falcon-Knight! Room, room, ye gentles gay. 1852James Agnes Sorel (1860) 4 Men with flambeaux in their hands,..calling ‘Place! Place!’ to clear the way for their master.
b. In generalized sense: Space, extension. (Chiefly rhetorical, and in antithesis to time.)
a1631Donne Nativitie 10 Seest thou, my Soule,..how he Which fils all place, yet none holds him, doth lye? 1655Stanley Hist. Philos. i. (1701) 7/2 That the World is contained in place. This agrees with the definition of place by space. 1755Gray Progr. Poesy iii. ii, He pass'd the flaming bounds of Place and Time. 1775Harris Philos. Arrangem. Wks. (1841) 335 Time..is continuity, successive in itself, and accumulative of its proper subjects; place is continuity, co-existent in itself, and distributive of its proper subjects. 1888Tennyson Crossing the Bar 13 Tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place The flood may bear me far.
3. a. A particular part of space, of defined or undefined extent, but of definite situation. (= L. locus, OE. stow.) Sometimes applied to a region or part of the earth's surface.
c1250in Rel. Ant. I. 22 Heil Marie, ful of grace, Þe lavird þich þe in heverilk place. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 11038 Þe quene..ibured was..In þe quer of hailes an hey in a vair place. a1300Cursor M. 15687 He ras vp o þe place [Gött. plasse] Þat he honurd him in. a1366Chaucer Rom. Rose 657 In many places were nightingales, Alpes, finches, and wodewales. c1400Three Kings Cologne 31 In summe plaas þe grounde is hiȝere and in summe plaas lowere. 1426Audelay Poems i. 1 In hel ne purgatore non other plase. 14..Nom. in Wr.-Wülcker 736/9 Hoc confragum, a plays where the whyrwynd metes. c1440Promp. Parv. 402/2 Place, locus. 1535Coverdale Ps. cxli. 4, I haue no place to fle vnto. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 672 At tyme and place conuenient. 1600J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa vi. 278 It is an extreme hot and drie place, bringing foorth no corne at all, but great plenty of dates. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage vi. xiii. 534 Not staying aboue three or foure dayes in a place, as long as the grasse will serue their Camels. 1625N. Carpenter Geog. Del. ii. i. (1635) 1 The description of the Terrestriall Globe, so farre forth as it is diuided into places. 1658Torments of Hell in Phenix (1708) II. 440 Some say Hell is a local Place, Augustine saith it is not a Place. 1726G. Shelvocke Voy. round World Pref. 18 The day, hour and place of the sea in which the ship was taken. 1850Tennyson In Mem. cii, We leave the well-beloved place Where first we gazed upon the sky. 1890Besant Demoniac i. 18 Even that is better than to have your shame proclaimed all over the place. 1897Westm. Gaz. 13 Mar. 5/1 The Act expressly declared such betting in any place, whether in or out of an enclosure, to be an illegal practice... They had arrived at the conclusion that any area, covered or uncovered, to which persons were known to resort for the purpose of betting, and where professional bookmakers resorted for the purpose of carrying on their calling, should be held to be ‘a place’ within the meaning of the statute.
b. The portion of space actually occupied by a person or thing; the position of a body in space, or with reference to other bodies; locality; situation.
1570–6Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 221 There is variance..touching the true place of that building. 1600Shakes. A.Y.L. i. ii. 204 In the world I fil vp a place, which may bee better supplied, when I haue made it emptie. 1603― Meas. for M. i. ii. 110 Though you change your place, you neede not change your Trade. 1603Holland Plutarch 815 The Stoicks, and Epicurus doe holde, that there is a difference betweene Voidnesse, Place, and Roome: for Voidnesse (say they) is the solitude or vacuitie of a body: Place, that which is fully occupied and taken up with a body: but Roome or Space, that which is occupied but in part. 1678Hobbes Decam. ii. 17 Then I may define Place to be The precise Space within which the Body is contained. 1690Locke Hum. Und. ii. xiii. §7 We say it hath kept the same Place:..it hath changed its Place. 1706Phillips s.v., Place is said to be either Absolute or Relative, the former being that Space which any Natural Body takes up or fills; but the latter is the apparent, secundary or sensible Position of such a Body, with repect to other contiguous or adjoyning Bodies. 1777Scott. Paraphrases vii. iv, The trembling earth deserts her place. 1837Whewell Hist. Induct. Sc. (1857) I. 209 The Categories are..substance, quantity, relation, quality, place, time, position, habit, action, passion.
†c. Short for ‘place of battle’, ‘field’. Obs.
13..Sir Beues (A.) 613 Were ich alse stiþ in plas, Ase euer Gii, me fader, was, I wolde..Fiȝte wiþ ȝow euerichon. c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 16384 Þrytty dukes slayn y þat plas. 1375Barbour Bruce ix. 528 Bot the best of thair cumpany Left ded behynd thame in the plass. 1705tr. Bosman's Guinea 181 That Engagement is very warm which leaves one thousand Men upon the place. [1871Freeman Norm. Conq. IV. xvii. 47 We are inclined to wonder..that every field did not become a local and unrecorded Place of Battle.]
†d. to leave place or win place: to lose or gain ground, to retreat or advance. Obs.
1375Barbour Bruce xii. 563 Thai wan plass ay mair & mair On thair fais. Ibid. xiii. 271 Thai war than in-till sa gret effray That thai left place ay mar & mar.
e. Colloq. phr. all over the place: disordered, irregular, muddled.
1923J. Manchon Le Slang 227 All over the place,..en pagaye. 1933A. E. Housman Let. 13 July (1971) 337 The Doctor sent me into a nursing home for a week because he said my heart was all over the place. 1937N. Coward Present Indicative vi. i. 229 Lilian was cool and steady and played beautifully. I was all over the place but gave, on the whole, one of those effective, nerve-strung tour-de-force performances, technically unstable, but vital enough to sweep people into enthusiasm. 1953R. Lehmann Echoing Grove 16 In her youth it [sc. her hair] had spilled out all over the place, brilliant but not warm. 1959H. Pinter Birthday Party ii. 15 Why is it that before you do a job you're all over the place, and when you're doing the job you're as cool as a whistle? 1971O. Norton Corpse-Bird Cries vi. 125 Her heart's all over the place, according to Sister. Shock after losing the Colonel. 1971M. McCarthy Birds of America 269 You seem unfocussed... All over the place. No clear line of direction. 1976S. Brett So much Blood iii. 43 ‘How's your show going?’ ‘Mary's still all over the place. We spend so much time improvising..we hardly ever get near the actual script.’
†4. spec. A piece or plot of land. Obs.[Med.L. placea, placia, from 1215 in Du Cange.] 1337(March) Survey in Tynemouth Chartulary lf. 23 b, Idem Robertus tenet unam placeam quæ vocatur Priores place, et reddit vj d. c1450Godstow Reg. 106 One place of his tenement in the towne of wycombe, the which conteynyth in lengthe viij. perches and x. fote, and in brede..iiij. perchis, and iiij. fote. Ibid. 545 One place of a curtilage liyng in the towne of Shillyngford. 1460Cal. Anc. Rec. Dublin (1889) I. 306 Hit be lawfull to the rent gaderer of the citte to take in all voyd placis of the town that beryt chef rent.
5. a. A portion of space in which people dwell together; a general designation for a city, town, village, hamlet, etc.
13..E.E. Allit. P. A. 1033 As Iohan hym wrytez..Vch pane of þat place had þre ȝatez. c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 419 Plasis þat han chirchis approprid. 1458Nottingham Rec. II. 366 Schepley and in odor plassus. c1470Gol. & Gaw. 157 Thare come ane laithles leid air to this place. 1618J. Taylor (Water P.) Penniless Pilgr. (1872) 22, I held on my journey..unto a place called Carling hill. 1626R. Peeke Three to One C ij, I am a Deuonshire-man borne, and Tauestock the place of my once-abiding. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 17, I..shall..With Foreign Spoils adorn my native Place. 1704J. Trapp Abra-Mulé ii. i. 359 The loss of this important Place. 1814Jane Austen Mansf. Park (1870) II. vii, I could not expect to be welcome in such a smart place as that [i.e. Brighton]. 1843Penny Cycl. XXVII. 666/2 Schools at Tours and other places in France. 1866Daily Tel. 10 Jan. 7/4 Hanover is, as the Americans would phrase it, ‘quite a place’.
b. A residence, dwelling, house; a seat, mansion, palace; formerly sometimes, a religious house, a convent; also spec. the chief residence on an estate; a manor-house; a country-house with its surroundings. Also place-house (see 29). (Cf. Welsh plâs.)
a1349Hampole Medit. Passion Wks. 1896 I. 95 Of alle þe housis and prisouns þat þei heelden þee ynne & closid wiþ-ynne in her placis. c1386Chaucer Prol. 607 With grene trees shadwed was his place. 1420E.E. Wills (1882) 53, I wull þat..my brothir [haue] a place in Duffelde,..þat I purchesede. 1463Bury Wills (Camden) 20 The welle werke afore my place. a1548Hall Chron., Hen. VIII 203 b, Ye haue hearde before how the kyng had purchased the Bysshop of Yorkes place. 1561–2Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 202 The places of freris, as yit standand undemolissit. 1611Cotgr., Manoir, a Mansion, Mannor, or Mannor⁓house;..a place, or chiefe dwelling place. 1796Statist. Acc. Scot. XVII. 570 An old tower or castle..called the old Place of Mochrum. 1806–7J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life (1826) xviii. xiv. 181 To be dragged by a soi-disant man of taste through every corner of his new Place, within and without doors. 1891S. Mostyn Curatica 143, I called at your place..last night, but Dan said you had been gone half an hour. 1902R. Hichens Londoners 33 Mitching Dean was Mr. Rodney's place in Hampshire. 1909Dialect Notes III. 358 Place, n., home, farm. ‘When you comin out to our place.’ a1922T. S. Eliot Waste Land Drafts (1971) 5 We had a couple of feelers down at Tom's place. Ibid., I turned up an hour later down at Myrtle's place. 1932S. Gibbons Cold Comfort Farm xix. 256 ‘Tell Reuben he can have the ‘old place.’.. ‘It's a pity he says ‘the old place’ instead of ‘the farm’.’ 1939Joyce Finnegans Wake (1964) i. 43 A few good old souls, who, as they were juiced after taking their pledge over at the uncle's place, were evidently under the spell of liquor. 1946E. Hodgins Mr. Blandings builds his Dream House ii. 14 The New York apartment..was home no longer; the old Hackett place on Bald Mountain was home, now. 1972Screw 12 June 33/4 (Advt.), Young male nude model. Experienced, handsome... Completely versatile and cooperative. Your place or mine. 1978J. F. Burke Crazy Woman Blues i. 3 If she'd been taken ill suddenly she might have gone up to her place.
†c. A fortress, citadel, ‘strong place’; a fortified city. Obs.[Med. (Anglo) L. placea 1409 in Rymer (Du Cange).] 1575Reg. Privy Council Scot. II. 448 The Tour Fortalice and Place of Rosdew. 1670R. Lassels Voy. Italy II. 375 Palma Nuova in Friuli..is one of the best places in Europe. It hath nine royal bastions [etc.]. 1693Mem. Cnt. Teckely iv. 64 Since it durst afterwards besiege one of their strongest Places. 1704J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, Place in Fortification usually signifies the Body of a Fortress. 1819Pantologia, Place, in war and fortification, a general name for all kinds of fortresses. 1849in Craig.
d. A building, apartment, or spot devoted to a specified purpose. (Usually with specification, as place of amusement, place of resort, bathing-place. etc.)
another place, in House of Commons phraseology, the other house, the House of Lords. place of worship: see 16.
1530Palsgr. 255/1 Place where justyce is mynystred, parlement. Ibid., Place to bathe one in, thermes. 1540–1Elyot Image Gov. 78 Their places of easement ouer the riuer. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 47 b, Colledges and such other places were fyrst founded for the pore. 1617Moryson Itin. i. 3 The Exchange where the Merchants meet is a very pleasant place. 1653Walton Angler i. 2, I know the thatcht house very well: I often..taste a cup of Ale there, for which liquor that place is very remarkable. 1714Addison Spect. No. 556 ⁋7 The Coffee-houses have ever since been my chief Places of Resort. 1789Burke Sp. Ho. Comm. 6 Feb., Speeches 1816 III. 394 The present minister, he understood, had been called ‘a heaven-born minister’ in another place. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 376 A theatre, or a camp, or, some other place of resort. 1901Daily Chron. 29 Oct. 4/6 The Chapter House..is to be, as the Bishop of Southwark said, ‘a place of speaking for the wants of the diocese’. 1973R. L. Simon Big Fix (1974) xiv. 99 We were sitting at the counter of Winchell's doughnut place on Glendale Boulevard. 1978J. L. Hensley Killing in Gold (1979) xi. 148 We went to Mac's Place... The waitresses were..insolent.
e. slang. A lavatory (see also quot. 1951).
1901Farmer & Henley Slang V. 220/2 Place,..(2) a jakes, or house of ease. 1922Joyce Ulysses 160 They did right to put him up over a urinal... Ought to be places for women. 1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §84/11 Toilet..place. 1951Partridge Dict. Slang (ed. 4) 1137/2 Place where you cough, the, the water-closet... Ex coughing to warn an approacher that it is occupied.
6. a. A particular part or spot in a body or surface.
1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xiii. 275 He hadde a cote of crystendome..Ac it was moled in many places. 1382Wyclif 2 Kings v. 11, I wende that he schulde goon oute to me,..and touche with his hond the place of the lepre, and helen me. c1400Destr. Troy 9477 Paris bend vp his bow..Waited the wegh in his wit ouer, In what plase of his person to perse. 1600Shakes. A.Y.L. iii. iii. 45 The Vicar..hath promis'd to meete me in this place of the Forrest. 1665Hooke Microgr. lv. 214 Eight..legs,..each of them joynted or bendable in eight several places or joynts. 1799Med. Jrnl. I. 23 The blistered place was healing very fast. 1804Ann Taylor My Mother vi, Who..when I fell..would..Kiss the place to make it well? 1868Mag. for Young Feb. 48 My nephew..taunted him with his companions..and I soon saw that we had touched a sore place. Mod. A wet place on the floor. There are two specially difficult places in the ascent.
†b. Chess. A square on the board. Obs. rare.
1562J. Rowbotham Playe Cheastes B j, The rowes where euery one of them are set I wyll name Seates: the other which be emptie I wil name them places or houses indifferently. 1725Bertin Chess 54 White, the king in his bishop's place.
7. a. A particular part, page, or other point in a book or writing.
c1325Spec. Gy Warw. 294, I shal ȝou shewe in þis place, What ioie þeih sholen han ifere, Þat seruen god on eorþe here. c1380Wyclif Sel. Wks. II. 104 Crist seiþ in anoþer place þat þe world hatiþ þes apostlis. 1617Moryson Itin. To Rdr., The First Part of this Worke,..in some obscure places is barren and unpleasant..but in other places I hope you will judge it more pleasant. 1661Fell Hammond 142 His Catalogue had an especial place for sequestred Divines. 1690Locke Hum. Und. ii. xiii. §9 If any one should ask in what place are the verses..; the use of the idea of place, here, being to know in what part of the book that story is. 1861C. M. Yonge Stokesley Secret xii. 201 They shut up her lesson-books and lost her place. 1881N. T. (R.V.) Luke xx. 37 But that the dead are raised, even Moses shewed, in the place concerning the Bush.
†b. A (short) passage in a book or writing, separately considered, or bearing upon some particular subject; a text, extract. Obs.[= L. locus; cf. ] 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 3 Saynt Gregory expoundynge the same place of scripture sayth [etc.]. c1555Harpsfield Divorce Hen. VIII (Camden) 282 The walls all bepainted..with places of holy Scripture. 1612Brinsley Lud. Lit. viii. (1627) 123 Many places may trouble the greatest schollers at first sight. 1641Vind. Smectymnuus vi. 85 The last place he bringeth out of Hierome is a most rare place. 1654Whitlock Zootomia 454 The nimble Perfunctorinesse of some Commentators (that skip over hard Places). 1743J. Morris Serm. vii. 203 They do not understand such places.
†c. A subject, a topic: esp. in Logic and Rhet.: = locus n.1 2. Obs.
c1530L. Cox Rhet. (1899) 45 The places or instrumentes of a symple theme. 1581G. Pettie Guazzo's Civ. Conv. i. (1586) 5 b, I neuer learned the places from whence arguments are drawen. 1597Bacon (title) Essayes. Religious Meditations. Places of perswasion and disswasion. 1620T. Granger Div. Logike 11 Certaine places, or heads, to which..Logicall inuention directs vs. 1654Z. Coke Logick 162 The place from Unlike, is either Simple [or] Compound. 1697tr. Burgersdicius his Logic ii. xvii. 69 Of Canons belonging to Consentaneous Places, or Places from whence Arguments are drawn... And first of those belonging to the Place of Notation or Etymology; and this has two Canons.
8. In technical uses:
a. Astron. The apparent position of a heavenly body on the celestial sphere.
1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. ii. Kalendar 120 Reckoning a Degree for each Day.., you shall have the Place of the Sun exact enough. 1704J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, Place of the Sun, Star, or Planet, is the Sign of the Zodiack, and Degree of it, which the Planet is in. 1842Penny Cycl. XXII. 448/1 When observations of a star, made at two different periods, have been cleared of the effects of aberration and refraction, the only difference between the two places ought to be that due to precession and nutation.
†b. Geom. = locus n.1 3. Obs. rare.
1704J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, Place Geometrick, is a certain Bound or Extent wherein any Point may serve for the Solution of a Local or Indetermined Problem. Ibid., Place Simple, or Locus ad Lineam rectam, as the Geometers call it, is when the Point that resolves any Problem is in a Right Line. Ibid., Place Solid, is when the Point is in one of the Conick Sections.
c. Falconry. The point or pitch attained by a falcon or similar bird of prey before swooping down on its quarry (obs., or arch., after Shakes.) Also (chiefly transf.) in phr. pride of place: a pre-eminent position.
1605Shakes. Macb. ii. iv. 12 A Faulcon towring in her pride of place. 1636Massinger Bashf. Lover v. ii, Though she fly in An eminent place, to add strength to her wings, And mount her higher. 1806T. Thornton Sporting Tour Eng. viii. (1896) 178 Eagles..can have no speed, except when at their place: then, to be sure, their weight increases their velocity. 1816Byron Ch. Har. iii. xviii, In ‘pride of place’ here last the eagle flew. 1902Punch 24 Dec. 434/1 A Minister who is chased by a loud-voiced Opposition From his pride of place. 1919Empire Rev. XXXIII. 242 Britain is compelled to raise her prices to heights which..will send the British buyer abroad for those very materials in the manufacture of which we have formerly held pride of place throughout the world. 1931A. Huxley Music at Night 222 Disease-snobbery is only one out of a great multitude of snobberies, of which now some, now others take pride of place in general esteem. 1948G. Gorer Americans i. 26 In the fantasies brought to light in psychiatric interviews pride of place went to those in which the officer was retaliated upon, humiliated, snubbed. 1954M. Beresford Lost Villages x. 343 This site has pride of place for the admirable monograph by Dr. W. M. Palmer. 1976Flintshire Leader 10 Dec. 32/1 Pride of place must go to Courtaulds Greenfield, the league leaders, who toppled the Welsh National League..Division 1 champions, Denbigh Town. 1978Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts CXXVI. 305/2 And then we come to folk and country drawings, which somehow have become a very American cult. These not unexpectedly are given a pride-of-place chapter.
d. Mining. A drift or level driven from side to side of a wide lode as a beginning of a slide.
III. Position in some scale, order, or series.
9. a. Position or standing in the social scale, or in any order of estimation or merit; rank, station, whether high or low. b. absol. High rank or position; dignity.
c1325Deo Gratias 38 in E.E.P. (1862) 129 So pouert apayred haþ my plas. a1586Sidney Arcadia (1627) 237 He holding place and estimation as heire of Arcadia. 1601R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. (1603) 69 Thirty other Dukes, amongst whome, the Archduke of Austria holdeth the highest place. 1641Hinde J. Bruen xxxvi. 114 A young Gentleman..of great place for his birth and bloud. 1682Wood Life 29 Nov. (O.H.S.) III. 32 Duke of Ormond to keep his old title but to take place in England as duke. 1822W. Irving Braceb. Hall iii. 24 Of late years, since he has risen into place. 1870Rogers Hist. Gleanings Ser. ii. 4 Poor men often rose to eminent place. 1876Gladstone Glean II. 339 We have not attempted to ascertain his [Macaulay's] place among historians. 1893Lewin in Bookman June 85/2 As an English critic of English literature, his place is in the front rank. Mod. To keep inferiors in their proper place.
c. Racing, etc.: A position among the placed competitors: see place v. 5 d. In U.S. applied spec. to second place.
1836Spirit of Times 5 Mar. 22/1 He led the first two miles, Sir Kenneth trailing, and Mattiwan endeavoring to keep a place in the race. 1885Daily Tel. 30 Sept. 5/3 Even a larger sum of money was invested by the public upon Lonely for a place in the St. Leger. 1885Times 4 June 10/3 Royal Hampton, who was ridden out for a place, was a bad third. 1930Daily Express 6 Oct. 17/6 Tote.—Win 5s; places 2s 9d, 2s 9d, 3s 6d. 1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §740/2 Place, second place, or at least second. 1976Daily Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 26 Mar. 27/3 ‘{pstlg}1 each way’ means {pstlg}2 split between a win and a ‘place’ (the horse finishes in the first three).
d. Phrases: to know one's place: to know how to behave in a manner befitting one's rank, situation, etc.; it is not my place: outside my duties or customary rights; to put (someone) in his, her etc., place: to remind someone of his or her rank or situation; to rebuff or rebuke.
1601Shakes. Twel. N. ii. v. 59, I knowe my place, as I would they should doe theirs. 1739–40Richardson Pamela (1740) I. xi. 18 It does not become your poor Servant..and I hope I shall always know my Place. 1852Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xvi, I hold to being kind to servants—but you must make 'em know their place. Eva never does. 1867Dickens & Collins No Thoroughfare in All Year Round Extra Christmas No. 12 Dec. 3/1 It is not my place, ma'am, to tell names to visitors. 1898G. B. Shaw Candida ii. 113 Mr Morchbanks is a gentleman, and knows his place, which is more than some people do. 1908A. Bennett Old Wives' Tale i. vi. 108 She ought to have put Mr. Povey into his place... Mr. Povey ought to have been ruined for ever in her esteem. 1916G. B. Shaw Pygmalion ii. 143, I should just like to take a taxi to the corner of Tottenham Court Road and get out there and tell it to wait for me, just to put the girls in their place a bit. I wouldnt speak to them, you know. 1930W. Faulkner As I lay Dying (1935) 5 It is not my place to question His decree. 1937D. & H. Teilhet Feather Cloak Murders vi. 104 Not that I'm complaining. Dear me, no. I know my place. 1943A. Christie Moving Finger vii. 85 These girls nowadays—don't know their place—no idea of how to behave. 1943J. B. Priestley Daylight on Saturday xxxviii. 301 Every time I think..that it's going to be easy to put you in your place, you suddenly do or say something that breaks it all down. 1956A. Wilson Anglo-Saxon Att. ii. i. 195 When he asked her to choose a restaurant, she said, ‘No, you do that thing. I'd much rather it was your choice.’ He suggested Scott's, and she said, ‘But that sounds absolutely the right thing.’ He hoped that she was not going to put him in his place the whole evening. 1965R. Bastide in G. Hunter Industrialisation & Race Relations i. 15 It institutionalised the subordination of the Negroes, who could only benefit from the protection of the whites..on condition that they ‘knew their place’ and proved their deference, gratitude and respect. 1973R. Stout Please pass Guilt (1974) xi. 109 On the phone you stiff-armed me. You put me in my place. 1974J. Stubbs Painted Face 11 It's not my place to judge, sir. 1979M. Hebden Murder set to Music ii. 17 ‘Did she have men friends?’.. ‘It's not my place to say.’
10. Arith. The position of a figure in a series, in decimal or similar notation, as indicating its value or denomination: in pl. with numeral, often used merely to express the number of figures, esp. after the decimal point in a decimal fraction.
1542Recorde Gr. Artes (1575) 43 A Place is called the seate or roome that a Figure standeth in. 1656H. Phillips Purch. Patt. (1676) 25, I have abreviated this Table to four places [of decimals]. 1706W. Jones Syn. Palmar. Matheseos 6 A Number has so many Places, as there are Figures in it. 1706― Introd. Math. 103 A Figure in the 1st, 2d, 3d, etc. Decimal Place. 1841Penny Cycl. XIX. 186/2 He also calculated the ratio [of π] to 55 decimal places. Ibid. 187/1 A manuscript..in which it was carried to 154 places. 1876Tait Rec. Adv. Phys. Sc. ix. (ed. 2) 223 Which contains some thirty-five places of figures.
11. A step or point in the order of progression. Mostly with ordinal numeral or its equivalent (first, next, last, etc.) preceded by in: in the first place = firstly, first in order; etc.
1639Act in Arch. Maryland (1883) I. 69 All debts growing due for wine..or other licquors shall be paid in the last place after all other debts are satisfied. 1660F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 325 Two thousand..lost their lives, and the Priests in the first place. 1711Addison Spect. No. 39 ⁋7, I must in the next place observe [etc.]. 1888Bryce Amer. Commw. II. lii. 301 In the first place, frost strikes deeper [etc.]... In the next place, the streets are more often disturbed.
IV. Position or situation with reference to its occupation or occupant.
12. a. A proper, appropriate, or natural place (for the person or thing in question to be in or occupy); sometimes in an ideal or imaginary region. (See also 19 c, d.)
1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xix. 57 He ȝaf largely alle his lele lyges Places in paradys at her partynge hennes. c1440Promp. Parv. 403/2 Place, or stede, situs. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 2 b, Hath place deputed & assygned to them by god & nature. 1597A. M. tr. Guillemeau's Fr. Chirurg. *iv, There is a common prouerbe that all thinges haue theire time, theire place, and theire sayson. 1600Shakes. Much Ado ii. i. 48 Heere's no place for you maids. 1711Addison Spect. No. 131 ⁋8 The Country is not a Place for a Person of my Temper. 1713M. Henry Meekness & Quietn. Spirit (1822) 147 We are all offenders: and the bar is our place, not the bench. 1802Wordsw. To Small Celandine 6 Long as there are Violets, They will have a place in story. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. v. I. 605 But the genius which, at a later period, humbled six marshals of France was not now in its proper place. 1897Rhoscomyl White Rose Arno 305 The two lovers took their places, kneeling on the curb..of the fount.
b. fig. A fitting time, point in the order of events; occasion, opportunity.
1382Wyclif Heb. xii. 17 Forsoth he found not place [1539, 1611, 1881, no place] of penaunce. c1400Destr. Troy 5040 Here is plainly no place in þis plit now, Your wille for to wirke. 1413Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton) i. xv. (1859) 17 Repentaunce ne prayer may here no place haue. 1661Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. i. v. §7 When the Egyptian Kingdom was first founded, is not here a place to enquire.
c. fig. ‘Room’; reasonable occasion or ground.
1638R. Baker tr. Balzac's Lett. (vol. II.) 17 There will be no place left for calumnie. 1654Hammond Fundamentals 60 There is no place of doubting, but that it was the very same which we now call the Apostles Creed. 1721Bentley Proposals for Printing New Test. 4 In the Sacred Writings there's no place for Conjectures or Emendations.
d. Phr. a place for everything and everything in its place.
1842Marryat Masterman Ready II. i. 9 In a well-conducted man-of-war..every thing is in its place, and there is a place for every thing. 1855T. C. Haliburton Nat. & Hum. Nat. I. vi. 164, I was born on a farm..where there was a place for everything, and everything was in its place. 1857Emerson Jrnl. 2 Aug. (1914) IX. 110 A place for everything, and everything in place. 1875S. Smiles Thrift v. 66 Order is most useful in the management of everything... Its maxim is—A place for everything, and everything in its place. 1922Joyce Ulysses 694 The necessity of order, a place for everything and everything in its place. 1928D. L. Sayers Lord Peter views Body x. 224 ‘I thought you were rather partial to anatomical specimens.’ ‘So I am, but not on the breakfast-table. ‘A place for everything and everything in its place’, as my grandmother used to say.’ 1941‘J. J. Connington’ Twenty-One Clues v. 74 A tidy person with a place for everything, and everything in its place. 1949J. P. Marquand Point of No Return iii. ii. 498 There was a place for everything in Clyde and everything was in its place. 1968P. Dickinson Skin Deep vii. 141 Do you run your whole life like that?.. A place for everything and everything in its place, and all in easy reach.
13. a. The space which one person occupies by usage, allotment, or right; a seat or accommodation engaged in a public building, conveyance, or the like, a space at table; seat, station, quarters.
1390Gower Conf. III. 125 Janus with his double face In his chaiere hath take his place. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 390 The king..commaunded him to sytte downe againe in his place. 1611Tourneur Ath. Trag. v. ii, In the meane time vouchsafe your place with us. 1788F. Burney Diary (1842) IV. 61 Indeed I trembled at these words, and hardly could keep my place. 1806–7J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life (1826) v. xix, After having fee'd very high for places at Mrs. Siddons's benefit. 1812P. Hawker Diary (1893) I. 45 Having taken places for Ferrybridge. 1881Mallock Rom. 19th C. i. iii, You must lay another place..as we shall be five dining this evening instead of four. 1884Chr. World 19 June 453/2 Accommodation is provided for 4,670,000 children, showing an increase of 32,000 places. 1955Times 9 May 6/4 In five years we shall provide a million new school places. 1976W. Corlett Dark Side of Moon i. 29 He would have got a university place. 1976G. Moffat Over Sea to Death xv. 174 They went in to dinner, drew the tables together and re-laid the places. 1977D. Williams Treasure by Degrees iii. 28 Up to 1974..there were still too many students chasing too few university places.
b. With possessive or of: The space previously or customarily occupied by some other person or thing; room, stead, lieu; often in phrases in (the) place of, instead of, in the room or lieu of, in exchange or substitution for; to take the place of, to be substituted for, to stand instead of.
1533Cromwell in Merriman Life & Lett. (1902) I. 353 His highnes is contente that your grace in the lewe and place therof shall haue his letteres patentes of the Justice⁓shipp of his Forestes. 1566Cheque Bk. Chapel Royal (Camden) 2 Mr. Alsworthe died..and Robert Greene of Poules sworne in his place. 1591Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, iv. iii. 25 O God, that Somerset..were in Talbots place. 1646Gillespie Male Audis 54 For that passage concerning Excommunication its supplying the place of the sword. 1793Beddoes Calculus 23 The pills were now substituted in the place of the solution. 1844Herschel Ess. (1857) 556 In place of immediately entering into business, he continued to reside for some time with his parents. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. vi. II. 142 Their places were supplied by men who had no recommendation but their religion. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 27 In the Laws..religion takes the place of philosophy in the regulation of human life. 1885Sci. Amer. 3 Jan. 7/1 The aquamarine contains oxide of iron in the place of oxide of chromium.
c. Phr. a place in the sun: see sun n.1 4 b (d).
14. a. An office, employment, situation; sometimes spec. a government appointment, an office in the service of the crown or state. (Cf. b.)
1558in Strype Ann. Ref. I. App. iv. 5 Such persons..every one, according to his ability to serve in the commonwealth, to be set in place. 1631J. Done Polydoron 17 Hee may well clayme a boat-sons place in Barkleyes Shippe of fooles. 1633Bp. Hall Hard Texts, N.T. 81 A Priest, and therefore by his very place professing examples of holinesse and charity. a1661Fuller Worthies i. (1662) 17 The Office of Lord Treasurers was ever beheld as a Place of great charge and profit. 1687in Magd. Coll. & Jas. II (O.H.S.) 78 To amove the said Mr. John Hough from the Place of President. 1710Addison Tatler No. 162 ⁋1 In my younger Years I used many Endeavours to get a Place at Court. 1714Swift Pres. St. Affairs Wks. 1755 II. i. 208 This general ambition of hunting after places. 1749Fielding Tom Jones vii. viii, Good servants need not want places. 1838Marryat Jac. Faithf. xxxvi, He purchased a patent place, which he still enjoys. 1871Punch 18 Nov. 212/1 Couldn't let you do it, sir. Much as my place's worth. Mod. Has he got a place yet? He has got a place in the Custom House. She (a maid-servant) is leaving her place, and going home.
b. Without a or pl.: Official position, esp. of a minister of state: = office n. 4 b.
a1568R. Ascham Scholem. Pref. (Arb.) 17 The most part were of hir Maiesties most honourable priuie Counsell, and the rest seruing hir in verie good place. 1607–12Bacon Ess., Great Place (Arb.) 278 Men in Great Place, are thrice Seruants: Seruants of the Soueraigne or State; Seruants of Fame; and Seruants of Businesse. 1673Ray Journ. Low C. 25 Twenty four Magistrates... These chuse all Publick Officers out of their own number. Themselves continue in place during life. 1702Eng. Theophrast. 173 Place shows the man; some for the better and some for the worse. 1774Goldsm. Retal. 41 'Twas his fate, unemployed, or in place. 1824Byron Juan xvi. lxxii, He exactly the just medium hit 'Twixt place and patriotism. 1871Morley Crit. Misc., Condorcet Ser. i. (1878) 47 To glut their insatiable craving for place and plunder.
c. The duties of any office or position; (one's) duty or business. Hence † to perform one's place (obs.).
1652Milton in Marvell's Wks. (Grosart) II. 9 If..I shall need any assistance in the performance of my place. 1655Nicholas Papers (Camden) II. 272 Beinge to ould to performe the place. 1884W. C. Smith Kildrostan 72 She'll think It is her place to keep me company.
V. Phrases.
* With other ns.
15. place of arms [ad. F. place d'armes]:
a. An open space for the assembling of troops.
Provision for various kinds of these, either temporary or permanent, is or was formerly made in the laying out of encamping grounds or fortifications: see quots.
1598Barret Theor. Warres Gloss. 252 Place of armes generall: is the place of assemblie, where the people of warre are ranged in order of battell. 1704J. Harris Lex. Techn. I. s.v., Place of Arms in a Garrison, is a large open Spot of Ground in the middle of the City, where the great Streets meet, else between the Ramparts and the Houses, for the Garrison to Rendezvous in, upon any sudden Alarm, or other Occasion. 1724De Foe Mem. Cavalier (1840) 205, I was posted upon a parade, or place of arms. 1727–41Chambers Cycl., Place of arms, in a camp, is a large space at the head of the camp, for the army to be ranged in and drawn up in battalia. 1823Crabb Technol. Dict. s.v., In offensive fortification those lines are called places of arms on parallels which unite the different means of attack. 1853Stocqueler Milit. Encycl., Re-entering place of arms is an enlargement of the covered way of a fortress..; it serves..for assembling troops previously to making sorties.
b. A strongly fortified city or a fortress, used as an arsenal or magazine, or as a place of retreat; also, † a tent at the head of each company where the arms were stored (obs.).
1704J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, Place of Arms, when taken in the General, is a strong City which is pitch'd upon for the Magazine of an Army. 1708Lond. Gaz. No. 4466/1 It is said the Germans design to make St. Germano..a Place of Arms. 1768T. Simes Milit. Dict., Place of arms of a camp, are the belltents, at the head of each company, where they lodge their arms. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. ii. I. 190 Dunkirk was..prized..not merely as a place of arms,..but also as a trophy of English valour.
16. place of worship [see 5 d]: A place where religious worship is performed; spec. a building (or part of one) appropriated to assemblies or meetings for religious worship: a general term comprehending churches, chapels, meeting-houses, synagogues, and other places in which people assemble to worship God.
In 15th c., place of worship occurs in the sense ‘worshipful place (cf. sense 5 b), house of a person of rank’; in 16th c. in that of ‘honourable post or position’. The existing use is app. shortened from ‘place (of assembly or meeting) for religious worship’, occurring in Statutes, from 1689 onwards, recognizing the public religious worship of Protestant Dissenters, Roman Catholics, and Jews. In these statutes the short form is rare and late (see quots. 1832, 1846).[1470–85Malory Arthur iv. xiii. 135, I wold fayn be at some place of worship said syr Arthur that I myghte reste me. Ibid. viii. xxv. 310 Hit was neuer the custome of no place of worship..whan a knyghte and a lady asked herborugh, and they to receyue hem & after to destroy them that ben his gestes. 1592Greene Upst. Courtier Wks. (Gros.) XI. 236 The shamelesse vpstart..that hath a hungry eie to spie out,..and a flattering toong to intreat for some void place of worship.] 1689Act 1 Will. & Mary c. 18 §4 If any Assembly of persons dissenting from the Church of England shall be had in any place for Religious Worship. [Ibid., Except such Persons come to some Congregation or Assembly of Religious Worship allowed or permitted by this Act.] 1791Act 31 Geo. III, c. 32 §6 If any Assembly of Persons professing the Roman Catholic Religion shall be had in any Place for religious Worship. 1812Act 52 Geo. III, c. 155 §2 (margin) Places of Religious Worship certified and registered. 1832Act 2 & 3 Will. IV, c. 115 (margin) Roman Catholics to be subject to the same laws as Protestant Dissenters, with respect to Schools and Places of Worship. 1833Act 3 & 4 Will. IV, c. 30 (title) An Act to exempt from Poor and Church Rates all Churches, Chapels, and other Places of Religious Worship. 1846Act 9 & 10 Vict. c. 59 §2 Persons dissenting from the Worship or Doctrines of the United Church of England and Ireland, and usually attending some Place of Worship other than the Established Church. 1853Act 16 & 17 Vict. c. 137 §62 Any Cathedral or Collegiate Church, or any Building registered as a Place of Meeting for Religious Worship. 1855Act 18 & 19 Vict. c. 81 (Preamble) Save as therein excepted with respect to Places of Worship of the Established Church and otherwise.
[1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XVI. 71/2 margin, Of clean and unclean beasts, and the place of worship [in the Mosaic Law]. ]1816J. Wilson City of Plague Poems 1825 I. 263 Her soul serene, That like a place of worship aye was husht By day and night. 1857Mrs. Carlyle Lett. II. 334 They had gone every one to her different ‘Place of Worship’. 1865Pall Mall G. 29 Dec. 10 St. Mary's [a district church in a town] is a place of worship rather than a church to the minds of the townsmen.
17. one's heart (lies) in the right place: see heart n. 54. to have a soft place in one's heart for, to regard affectionately, be well-disposed towards, be fond of.
1809Malkin Gil Blas i. xii. ⁋2 God knows if his heart lay in the right place for all that! 1894Blackmore Perlycross 25 Mr. Penniloe had a very soft place in his heart for this young lady.
** With prepositions.
18. from place to place. From one place to another, and so on in succession.
c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 457 Crist wente mekely fro plase to place. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 1361 He pervsed the whole towne.., from place to place. 1711Addison Spect. No. 98 ⁋3 This holy Man travelled from Place to Place. Mod. Nomads who roam about from place to place in search of pasture for their cattle.
19. in place, etc.:
†a. Before or without moving away; on the spot; then and there, immediately. So in the place, on or upon the place. Obs.
c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 110/138 So þat heo i-cristned was..and i-spouse in þe place. a1330Roland & V. 504 He toke him in þe plas, & to þe castel he went. a1425Cursor M. 1600 (Trin.) Þis worde he seide anoon in plas. 1600E. Blount tr. Conestaggio 217 To sell them at lowe prices vpon the place. 1665Temple Let. to Sir J. Temple Wks. 1731 II. 4, I told him upon the Place, I would serve his Majesty the best I could in it. 1675Lond. Gaz. No. 1004/3 On the part of the Suedes, 2000 were killed upon the place.
†b. In presence, present, at hand, on the spot. So upon the place. Obs.
a1425Cursor M. 3078 (Trin.) Archere was he beste in plas. 1590Spenser F.Q. i. v. 36 They all, beholding worldly wights in place, Leave off their worke..To gaze on them. 1670Marvell Corr. Wks. (Grosart) II. 345 Those matters can not be transacted by the Post, but men must be upon the place. 1682in Scott. Antiq. (1901) July 4 Without..ever acquainting him, albeit he was wpon the place.
c. In its original or proper position; in position; in situ; spec. in Geol.; in Mining, applied to a vein or lode situated between fixed rocks.
1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 108 That the ecclesiasticall iurisdiction remayne in place as it nowe is. 1869Huxley Elem. Physiol. (ed. 3) v. §20 The liver is invested by a coat of peritoneum, which keeps it in place. 1881Raymond Mining Gloss., In place,..occupying, relative to surrounding masses, the position that it had when formed. 1884Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl., Placer,..includes all forms of mineral deposits excepting veins in place. 1884A. K. Green Leavenworth Case ii. 8 The open piano with its sheet of music held in place by a lady's..fan.
d. fig. In his or its proper or fitting position; in one's element, at home; in harmony, timely. (The opposite of out of place, 20.)
1897Chicago Advance 4 Feb. 138/2 If Mr. Manss were not a successful pastor, he would be very much in place as a journalist.
e. in (some one's) place: in (his) position, situation, or circumstances; situated as (he) is.
1735T. Hill Zara ii. i. 11 What have I done,..Beyond, what You wou'd, in my place, have done? 1770Foote Lame Lover iii. Wks. 1799 II. 89 What could I do? Put yourself in my place. 1870Reade (title) Put Yourself in his Place.
f. in (the) place of, instead of: see 13 b. in the first, second, next, etc. place: see 11.
20. out of place. Out of, or not situated in the natural or appropriate position; misplaced; fig. unsuitable, unseasonable.
[1551Robinson tr. More's Utop. (1895) 73 Wordes and saynges, brought furth so out of time and place, to make sporte and moue laughter.] 1822[see out of, III]. 1853Maurice Theol. Ess. 77 The ordinary methods of controversy are entirely out of place. 1864Pusey Lect. Daniel (1876) 346 The two verses..are evidently..out of place. 1892Law Times XCII. 158/1 It may not be out of place to examine it here.
*** With verbs.
21. come in place.
†a. To come to be, come forth, originate, turn up; to come into notice, appear; to appear, present itself for consideration. Also become in (to, etc.) place. Obs.
a1225Leg. Kath. 1316 Ne funde we nowhwer nan swa deope ilearet þat durste sputin wið us; and ȝef he come in place [etc.]. a1300Cursor M. 5589 (Cott.), I sal tell yow of [moyses]..How-gat first he com in place. Ibid. 18623 And þus bicome þat oile in place. Ibid. 22405 For if sant michel cum to place, to dome befor vr lauerd grace. 1390Gower Conf. II. 84 Hou that metall cam a place. 1579Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 114/2 When y⊇ honour of God commeth in place.
†b. To occur, take place. Obs.
a1425Cursor M. 2884 (Trin.) Lecchery..Þe foulest þat euer coom on plas. Ibid. 13131 Till a feste day coom in plas.
†c. To come into a position (to do something).
c1450Merlin xxiv. 444 And gladly ther-of wolde thei ben a-venged, yef thei myght come in place.
22. find place. To find room to dwell or exist, to have being (in something).
a1729Congreve To Cynthia 5 Can Discontent find Place within that Breast? 1839J. Yeowell Anc. Brit. Ch. x. (1847) 105 Confidence in their own strength found no place in their counsels. 1846Trench Mirac. vi. (1862) 189 And now the solemn awakening finds place.
23. give place. To make room, make a way, get out of the way; to yield to, give way to; to be succeeded by: see give v. 47. arch. exc. fig.
1382, etc. [see give v. 47 a–d]. c1460Towneley Myst. xxiv. 10 Stynt, I say! gyf men place. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 14 The water deuydyng it selfe, & gyuynge place to them for theyr passage. 1571R. Edwards Damon & Pithias in Hazl. Dodsley IV. 92 Give place; let the prisoner come by; give place. c1595Capt. Wyatt R. Dudley's Voy. W. Ind. (Hakl. Soc.) 35 The Generall gaue place to his earnest suite. a1604Hanmer Chron. Irel. (1809) 165 Hee prudently governed his Church some thirty yeeres, and gave place to nature. 1746–7Hervey Medit. (1818) 211 What was gay..as well as glittering..gives place to an universal gravity. 1871R. Ellis Catullus lxiv. 268 Thessaly's youth gave place to the Gods high-throned in heaven.
24. have place.
a. To have room to exist; to have being or existence (in, among, etc. something); to exist; to be situated, have lodgement.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. iii. xii. (1495) dj/2 The vertue..naturalis..hath pryncipall place in the lyuer. 1489Caxton Faytes of A. iv. vii. 247 Yf all sinnes were punyshed in this worlde the Iuges of god shulde haue noo place. 1526Tindale John viii. 37 Ye seke meanes to kyll me be cause my sayinges have noo place in you. 1624Bedell Lett. vii. 110 But this..hath no place amongst all your motiues. 1752Hume Ess., Remark. Customs (1817) I. 366 The same law had place in Thebes. 1896Duke of Argyll Philos. Belief 117 The notion..that time..can have no place in Nature except as a mere condition..of human thought.
†b. To have or take precedence (also to have the place): = 27 c. Obs.
1659Burton's Diary (1828) IV. 272 These persons petitioning are dangerous... Safety must have place of all. 1686Plot Staffordsh. 285 The female Sex, which according to the custom of England has always the place.
†25. hold place. To obtain regard, to prevail; = 27 b. (See also 9.)
1513More Rich. III in Grafton Chron. (1568) II. 757 If either kind [= nature] or kindnesse had holden place. Ibid. 762 If some folkes friendship had not holden better place with the king then any respect of kindred.
26. make place.
†a. To make room or space for; to give a position, station, or office to. Obs.
a1400–50Alexander 2277 (Dubl. MS.) Þen makes þe prince hym a place & prestly hym maches. 1565T. Stapleton Fortr. Faith 113 All mercie shall make place to euery man according to the merit of his workes. 1581G. Pettie tr. Guazzo's Civ. Conv. ii. (1586) 56 To furnish himselfe with such good giftes, that he make himself place, be desired, honoured, and esteemed. 1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. iii. x. 86 b, Making place for al commers.
b. to make places (Change-ringing): said of two bells which shift their position in successive changes so as to make room, as it were, for another bell which is struck successively before, between, and after them.
1872Ellacombe Ch. Bells Devon, etc. ii. 221 The..terms of the art are enough to frighten an amateur,..Hunting, dodging, snapping, and place making. 1880C. A. W. Troyte in Grove Dict. Mus. I. 334/2 In change-ringing terms the 4th and 5th are said to ‘make places’.
27. take place.
†a. To take effect, to succeed; to be accomplished or realized. Obs. or arch.
1460J. Capgrave Chron. (Rolls) 153 Alisaunder the Pope gaf us leve for to edifie coventis in these places..but there tok no place but Clare and Wodous. 1542Udall in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 2, I am..as well contented that my suite hath not taken place. 1600J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa viii. 304 When the Christian religion began to take place in Egypt. a1766F. Sheridan Sidney Bidulph IV. 30 This design can't possibly take place till next winter. 1789Wesley Wks. (1872) IV. 465 His medicine immediately took place. 1825Knapp & Baldw. Newgate Cal. IV. 334/2 Two shots..did not take place.
†b. To find acceptance; to have weight or influence. Obs.
1535Joye Apol. Tindale (Arb.) 17 These playn testimonyes of the scripture wolde take no place with Tindal. 1665J. Webb Stone-Heng (1725) 33 Then must the Corinthian Column be condemned..if Baldo's Judgment take Place. 1737Bracken Farriery Impr. (1757) II. 134 This Doctrine..I don't expect will take place with many. a1774Goldsm. Hist. Greece I. 1 Among an unenlightened people every imposture is likely to take place.
†c. To take precedence of; to go before. (Cf. 9.) Obs.
1600W. Watson Decacordon (1602) 19 Whether a Ies. cobler or schoolemaister, being but a lay brother..ought to take place and go before a secular Priest. 1626S. D'Ewes in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. III. 219 the Lorde Conway tooke place of all barons. 1711Brit. Apollo III. No. 149. 2/2 Which Woman takes Place? 1721Bradley Philos. Acc. Wks. Nat. 188 After this, the Physick Garden at Oxford takes place in Reputation. 1814Jane Austen Mansf. Park xxiii, Though Miss Crawford is in a manner at home, at the Parsonage, you are not to be taking place of her.
†d. To take up or have a position; to be present.
1622Wither Mistr. Philarete G j, Marke, if euer red or white, Any where, gaue such delight, As when they haue taken place In a worthy womans face. 1653H. More Antid. Ath. ii. vii. (1712) 61 The Uses indeed of the fore⁓named Plants..take place so in every Affair of Man.
e. To come into existence, come to pass, happen; to occur (in place or time).
1770Langhorne Plutarch (1879) I. 207/2 These respects being paid, and silence taking place. 1816Playfair Nat. Phil. II. 145 The shadow may reach the earth, and a total eclipse may take place. 1894A. Robertson Nuggets, etc. 217 The police were informed of what had taken place.
f. to take the place of: see 13 b.
VI.
28. Short for place brick.
1843Mech. Mag. XXXIX. 192 The difference between..stacks and places ten shillings.
VII. 29. attrib. and Comb., as place-description, place-disease, place-illustration, place-name, hence place-namer , place-naming vbl. n., place nomenclature, place-ordering, place-poetry; place-bound, place-ordered adjs.; (sense 2 b) place-logic, place-time; (sense 9 c) place-getter; (sense 14) place-broker, place-monger, place-mongering, place-seeker, place seeking; place-begging, place-loving, place-proud, place-seeking adjs.; place act, the Act of Parliament excluding persons holding office under the crown from sitting in the House of Commons; † place-being, the fact of being or dwelling in some particular place, habitat (obs. rare); place betting, the action of backing a horse or other competitor for a ‘place’: see 9 c; place-bill (cf. place act); place-book, a blank book for the collection of interesting or valuable literary extracts; = commonplace-book; place-card, a card bearing a guest's name marking the place allocated to him at a table; place horse, a horse which comes in among those placed: see place v. 5 d; place-house = place n. 5 b; † placelike a., local; place-making: see 26 b; place-mat, a table-mat for a place-setting; place-money Racing, (a) money placed as a bet that a horse, etc., will be second or third (in the U.S., second only); (b) prize-money for finishing second or third (in the U.S., second) in a race; place-setting, the cutlery, china, etc., required to set a place for one person at a table; place-skating (U.S.) = figure-skating; place-value, the numerical value that a digit has by virtue of its position in a number; place-woman, a female office-holder under government. See also place brick, place-holder, place-hunter, place-kick, placeman.
1903Westm. Gaz. 9 Sept. 10/1 The *Place Act, by which holders of places of profit under the Crown are ineligible for the House of Commons.
1567J. Maplet Gr. Forest 79 Chelidros the Serpent..is in *placebeing, one of those kindes which be doubtfull. For it is now abiding vpon the earth now in the waters.
1885Times 4 June 10/3 *Place Betting.
1742H. Walpole Let. to Mann 8 Apr., The *Place Bill has met with the same fate from the Lords as the Pension Bill and the Triennial Act. 1827Hallam Const. Hist. II. xvi. 617 We owe to this ministry the place-bill of 1743, which..seems to have had a considerable effect; excluding a great number of inferior officers from the house of commons.
a1659Osborn Charac. etc., Wks. (1673) 619 In the *Place-Book of virtue and vice. 1808Knox & Jebb Corr. I. 431 It might be..useful to keep the plan open for continual increase, in the way of, not a common, but a special place-book.
1647Fuller Good Th. in Worse T. (1841) 132 When we are time-bound, *place-bound, or person-bound so that we cannot compose ourselves to make a large solemn prayer.
1810Sporting Mag. XXXV. 267 Lawyers, and speculators, and *place-brokers.
1922S. Lewis Babbitt viii. 115, I was going to have some nice hand-painted *place-cards for you but—Oh, let me see; Mr. Frink, you sit here. 1934J. O'Hara Appointment in Samarra (1935) iv. 97 She held a small stack of place-cards. 1938L. Bemelmans Life Class iii. ii. 225 Some terrible place-card holders made of sea shells. 1942T. Bailey Pink Camellia ii. 12, I have the place cards ready. 1963D. B. Hughes Expendable Man (1964) ii. 39 Now the stationer's... We need more place cards for tonight. 1974P. Erdman Silver Bears v. 63 Beside each lady's place-card was a small orchid.
1892Spectator 16 Jan. 93/1 No writer has left us so many *place-descriptions which can be..identified with actual localities.
1898P. Manson Trop. Diseases xiv. 233 Beriberi, a *place disease like malaria.
1976Eastern Even. News (Norwich) 27 Aug., Kuda's Surge should be interesting, as should Bownee, a well-fancied *place-getter last time. 1976–7Sea Spray (N.Z.) Dec./Jan. 77/3 Prizes:..A Hanimex f3.5/80–200 mm multicoated zoom lens, valued at $150, for the third place-getter in the senior section. 1977N.Z. Herald 5 Jan. 1–17/6 The women's team will consist of the first three in the target competition, plus Hamilton's Thelma Croft, because the fourth placegetter, Joan Ward (Manakau), did not score qualifying totals before the championships.
1890Pall Mall G. 19 Sept. 7/3 Such an animal..would..be looked upon as a winner, or, at least, a *place horse in a race.
1675Wycherley Country Wife ii. i, I hate London: our *place-house in the country is worth a thousand of 't.
1674N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 85 Still they would bear no *place like respect.
1957A. N. Prior Time & Modality 119 Consider..a *place-logic in which we have the means of formulating the law. 1968N. Rescher Topics in Philos. Logic xiii. 229 A wide range of logical systems, including not only chronological..logic, but also what we may call locative or place logic, and even a logic of possible worlds.
1839Record 21 Oct., The time-serving and *place-loving spirit.
1951T. Sterling House without Door ii. 21 The waitress took the mangled *place-mat..and brushed the shreds of paper from the table. 1966J. Cleary High Commissioner vi. 120 He looked at the table, at the silverware, the lace place-mats. 1972J. Ball Five Pieces Jade x. 118 She had set two place mats and a small, intimate meal was waiting. 1977New Yorker 10 Oct. 110/2 Farther on, we move into the dining room and partake of a genteelly wholesome meal from gold-edged china set on pale-green patterned placemats.
1894G. Moore Esther Waters xliv. 348 Bramble, a fifty to one chance, not one man in a hundred backed her; King of Trumps, there was some *place money lost on him. 1923Wodehouse Inimit. Jeeves xiv. 179 A sniffing female in blue gingham beat a pie-faced kid in pink for the place-money, and Prudence Baxter, Jeeves's long shot, was either fifth or sixth, I couldn't see which. 1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §734/3 Place money, the odds a horse pays to run second. 1970Globe & Mail (Toronto) 25 Sept. 32/3 Miss Ella Cinders won but with the disqualification will now receive place money of $400 instead of $200 show money. 1973Times 15 Dec. 16/4 A compulsory shareout of place money between owner, trainer and jockey on the same formula as for win money.
1785J. Trusler Mod. Times III. 77 Seeing..an advertisement..from a man who advertised places under government to be disposed of..I..waited on Provider the *place-monger. 1868Visct. Strangford Selection (1869) I. 344 The Athenian bureaucrat or placemonger.
1888Bryce Amer. Commw. I. xxv. 371 A monstrous system of bribery and *place⁓mongering.
1868G. Stephens Runic Mon. I. p. xvi, *Place names are..found both on Old-Northern and on Scandinavian-runic pieces. 1884H. Rix in Gd. Words June 393/2 Speculating on the origin of place-names. 1924Place-name [see folk-name (folk 5 b)]. 1927Englische Studien Nov. 64 The foundation of the English Place-Name Society (in 1923)..has given an enormous impetus to the study of English place-names. Ibid., A useful and competent survey of the methods of the place-name study. Ibid., There are three golden rules to be observed by every place-name student. 1961L. F. Brosnahan Sounds of Language iii. 46 Linguistic, placename, and general knowledge of the history of Europe. 1966Eng. Stud. XLVII. 208 In the pocket we find a geological map and six distribution maps on certain place-name elements. 1977Word 1972 XXVIII. 73 Tre- as a place-name element appears to have meant just ‘settlement’.
1927Year's Work Eng. Stud. 1925 35 The article will interest both lexicographers and *place-namers. 1943Amer. Speech XVIII. 241 Finding that in fire protection work it was very desirable, even imperative, that natural features capable of being named should have names as an aid in locating fires..I began *place-naming more diligently. 1962Ibid. XXXVII. 255 Florida place names follow the tendencies of place-naming all over the United States.
1922E. Ekwall Place-Names Lancs. 5 To judge of many etymologies, it is of importance to be able to find out the general characteristics of the *place-nomenclature of the neighbourhood. 1924Mawer & Stenton Introd. Survey Eng. Place-Names ii. 33 The Irish-Gaelic element in the English place-nomenclature is..small. 1935A. C. Baugh Hist. Eng. Lang. iv. 120 The extent of this [Scandinavian] influence on English place-nomenclature would lead us to expect a large infiltration of other words into the vocabulary. 1965Eng. Stud. XLVI. 335 A marked Welsh element is noticeable in the place-nomenclature of the Forest of Dean, which adjoins Monmouthshire. 1977Word 1972 XXVIII. 118 It is therefore quite appropriate that 1976 be the year in which the evolution and state of research into the Celtic place-nomenclature of Scotland is given a brief retrospective assessment.
1966G. N. Leech Eng. in Advertising ii. 18 Dependence is the type of depth-ordering that accounts for repetitions in *place-ordered structure. 1969Eng. Stud. L. 31 Furthermore, simplicity also depends on depth-ordered structure..as well as on place-ordered structure (discontinuous elements put a strain on the reader's memory).
1966G. N. Leech Eng. in Advertising ii. 17 Up to this point, the idea of linguistic structure has been based on the principle of *place-ordering: the principle whereby the order in which the elements of a pattern occur is tied to the class of unit they represent.
a1619Fletcher Wit without M. iii. i, To be *place-proud.
1902Kynoch Jrnl. Oct.–Nov. 14/1 The firing point is not crowded with a lot of *place-seekers croaking their grievances. 1955Times 5 May 15/4 Elizabeth was putting out a hand to Cecil, still an official of the second rank in the crowd of place-seekers at Court during her brother's minority.
1908Daily Chron. 24 July 4/6 How much of her success in *place-seeking a woman owes to her business-like methods and how much to her milliner is a moot point. 1966Punch 26 Jan. 137/3 Dr. Burney, the busy, place-seeking music teacher who dearly loved a lord.
1950E. Post Etiquette (rev. ed.) xxix. 324 Dessert spoon and forks..need not—in fact preferably do not—match the foundation ‘*place setting’ silver. 1951M. McLuhan Mech. Bride (1967) 111 A single place setting for as little as $19.65. 1960News Chron. 12 Apr. 8/6 Stainless-steel cutlery is proving a time-saver... I have found admirable place-settings for 48s. 6d. 1964Mrs. L. B. Johnson White House Diary 6 May (1970) 131 These were just place settings, the most extraordinary of which, by all odds, was the Rutherford B. Hayes china, with its exotic patterns of wildlife. 1974L. Deighton Spy Story xiv. 136 The neatly arranged place settings, polished glasses and starched napkins.
1895Outing (U.S.) XXVII. 206/1 To his mastery of edges and *place-skating he owed his ability to defeat the great skaters of the world.
1944Mind LIII. 39 It would seem to require that when I say ‘this is a cat’ at *place-time1 and ‘this is a cat’ at place-time2, there is no difference of meaning but only of causation. 1959P. F. Strawson Individuals vii. 223 Place-times are both spatially and temporally bounded.
1911Smith & Karpinski Hindu-Arabic Numerals iii. 45 Concerning the earliest epigraphical instances of the use of the nine symbols, plus the zero, with *place value, there is some question. 1948D. Diringer Alphabet i. vii. 133 The character for zero—the importance of which was recognized by the Mayas many centuries before any other people in the world—was similar to a shell... The symbols for the multiples of 20..are still uncertain; it may be, however, that they had the ‘place-value’ notation. 1966May & Moss New Math for Adults Only viii. 44/2 Face value tells how many. A digit's face value never changes. Place value tells how much. A digit's place value changes as its place in the numeral changes. Ibid. 45/1 Zero has no face value at all, but this digit has a most important place value.
1817–18Cobbett Resid. U.S. (1822) 257 Sinecure placemen and *placewomen.
▪ II. ‖ place, n.2|plas|
[Fr.]
In France, or occas. in other countries, a square (square n. 12). Freq. used in proper names.
1699M. Lister Journey to Paris 10 The Squares are few in Paris, but very beautiful; as the Place Royal, Place Victoir, Place Dauphine. 1793in M. Miliband Observer of 19th Cent. (1966) 4 Yesterday..the unfortunate Louis XVI suffered decapitation in the Square of the Revolution, formerly called Place Louis XV. 1852E. Ruskin Let. 17 May in M. Lutyens Effie in Venice (1965) ii. 312 We have moved into the Hotel in the Place and are very comfortably settled. 1873C. M. Yonge Pillars of House III. xxxiii. 220 She is leading the gay life the bourgeoisie do here—at the theatre or out on the place all evening. 1908T. E. Lawrence Let. 9 Aug. (1938) 59 Streets—mostly stairs..expanding sometimes into a ‘place’, sometimes into a cesspool. 1964‘J. Welcome’ Hard to Handle viii. 53 A semicircle of houses built..around a central place. 1973Country Life 31 May 1552/3 Enniscorthy is even more Continental in character than New Ross... The steep and narrow street opens unexpectedly into a market square... In the middle of this place..there is a '98 memorial.
▪ III. place, v.|pleɪs|
pa. tense and pple. placed |pleɪst|; also 6 Sc. plasit, plaist, placeit, 6–7 plast(e; pa. pple. 6 yplasde.
[f. place n. So F. placer (1606 in Hatz.-Darm.).]
1. a. trans. To put or set in a particular place, position, or situation; to station; to posit; fig. to set in some condition, or relation to other things. Often a mere synonym of put, set.
1551T. Wilson Logike (1580) 40 This manne is no Rhetoricien, because he can not place his thynges in good order. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 25 The Archebyshoppe of Trevers was placed right ouer against themperour. Ibid. 333 They place this as a generall Rule. 1565Golding Cæsar 29 b, Cesar..taking the towne placed a garryson in it. 1567Drant Horace, Epist. vii. D v, A younge man in a chare At ease yplasde. 1570–6Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 227 A Castle high, and thundring shot, At Quinbroughe is now plaste [rime waste]. 1602in St. Papers, Dom. (1870) 226 We delivered the goods..and placed two of our company aboard each ship. 1630Prynne Anti-Armin. 120 It placeth Election..within our owne command. 1663Gerbier Counsel 99 The placing a Gate or Doore. 1703Moxon Mech. Exerc. 167 Placing one Foot of a pair of Compasses on a Plane. 1712Steele Spect. No. 423 ⁋2, I was so placed..that I could not avoid hearing. 1800Med. Jrnl. IV. 26 He used to place the patient under a pump, and allow the water to play over him. 1818Cruise Digest (ed. 2) VI. 568 Thereby placing land out of circulation, during any one life. 1840Lardner Geom. xii. 153 Three points, however they may be placed, must always lie in the same plane. 1896Law Times Rep. LXXIII. 615/2 To place gatekeepers at level crossings.
b. To put or set (a number of things) in the proper relative places, i.e. in order or position; to arrange, dispose, adjust.
1548Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Acts 2 In Iohn I haue..only placed the texte and diuided the paraphrase. 1553T. Wilson Rhet. (1580) 6 What helpeth it though wee can finde good reasons, and knowe how to place them? 1613Purchas Pilgrimage 368 He obtaineth places of honour, which can most fitly place his words. 1638Junius Paint. Ancients 118 Which things..in painting, draw the eyes by their glittering brightnesse, though they be never placed by any art. a1717Pope Ep. Jervas 71 Should the Graces all thy figures place. 1777Sheridan Sch. Scand. iv. iii. (Stage direction) Places chairs.
c. Cricket, Baseball, and other ball games. To control and guide (the ball) in making a stroke or hit.
1836New Sporting Mag. July 196 There is nothing plagues a bowler like placing his best balls on the on side for one run. 1880Brooklyn Daily Eagle 22 Aug., Not one in five of the crowd of batsmen know [sic] how to wait for a ball or how to ‘place’ it when they get one to hit. 1886H. Chadwick Art of Batting & Base Running 33 The highest degree of skill in scientific batting is reached when the batsman can ‘place a ball’—in any part of the field he chooses. 1887F. Gale Game of Cricket 66 Both batsmen went to work..very steadily placing a ball here and there for one. 1905H. A. Vachell Hill xii. 268 The Eton captain had made up his mind to win this match with singles and twos. Very carefully he placed his balls between the fielders. 1933D. L. Sayers Murder must Advertise xviii. 317 Wimsey..placed the next six balls consistently and successfully to leg.
2. a. To appoint (a person) to a place or post; to put in office; spec. to induct to a pastorate.
c1570Schort Somme 1st Bk. Discipl. Ch. Scot. §4 Sic as ar preichers alreddie placeit. 1607Shakes. Timon iv. iii. 35 This yellow Slaue, Will..place Theeues, And giue them Title, knee, and approbation. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. i. ii. 16 Placing deserving men according to their merit. 1817Jas. Mill Brit. India II. v. ix. 694 These commissioners were..to have the sole power of placing and displacing all persons in the service of the Company. 1901Robert Anderson ii. 8 When my father was ‘placed’ as fourth minister of the Relief Church.
b. To find a place or situation for; to arrange for the employment, living, or marriage of; to settle. Sometimes const. † forth (obs.), out.
1596Drayton Piers Gaveston cii, Those in Court we for our purpose plac'd. 1633Bp. Hall Hard Texts, N.T. 213 Whether..to keep them at home in an unmarried state, or place them forth in Wedlock. a1652Brome Eng. Moor iii. i, At an old wives house in Bow-lane That places Servants. 1751Johnson Rambler No. 170 ⁋6 He had resolved to place me happily in the world. 1847Marryat Childr. N. Forest xxv, If I can only place my sisters as I want, Humphrey and I will seek our fortunes. 1889Spectator 21 Sept., Fathers lament..over children whom..they cannot ‘place’.
3. To put (a thing) into a suitable or desirable place for some purpose. spec.
a. To put out (money, funds) at interest; to invest. Often with out.
b. To put into the hands of a particular (selected) person or firm (an order for something to be supplied).
c. To dispose of to a customer.
d. To arrange for the performance or publication of (a play, literary production, or the like).
1700Farquhar Constant Couple i. ii, I suppose twenty or thirty pieces handsomely placed will gain the point. 1713Steele Guard No. 2 ⁋3 Placing money on mortgages. 1765Act 5 Geo. III, c. 26 Preamble, With Power to the Trustees..to place out the Money..on Real securities in Scotland. 1858T. Dalton in Merc. Marine Mag. V. 338 The best mode of placing funds at Bangkok. 1889Boston (Mass.) Jrnl. 7 May 2/3 The demand for Florida orange-trees..is..increasing. Many large orders have already been placed for next season. 1893Peel Spen Valley 342 All orders of the French Government which they needed to place in England. 1895H. James Notebks. 21 Dec. (1947) 232 Thus I come back..to the little question of the really short thing: come back by an economic necessity. I can place 5000 words. 1901Dabbs in Westm. Gaz. 27 Aug. 8/1, I have had six plays ‘placed’ at a cost to myself in trial matinées of hundreds of pounds. Ibid., A single play placed on the evening bill. 1959Chambers's Encycl. III. 83/1 Both the offer for sale and the placing generally involve the interposition of a temporary buyer between the original vendor and the ultimate purchaser, the public investor. 1970Daily Tel. 8 June 16/1 Profits were well above the {pstlg}175,000 envisaged when the shares were placed last November. Ibid., The shares, now standing at 12s 3d compared with the ‘placing’ price of 12s 8d.., have considerable appeal.
4. fig. To put, set, fix, repose (faith, confidence, esteem, etc.) in or on a particular person or thing.
1621T. Williamson tr. Goulart's Wise Vieillard 7 How are they to be..pittied, that haue nothing whereon to rest and place their assurance. 1654–66Earl of Orrery Parthen. (1676) 646, I found my passion was unworthily plac't. 1700H. Wanley in Pepys' Diary (1879) VI. 233 His judgment..in placing his friendships. 1711Steele Spect. No. 53 ⁋3 If our Sex knew always how to place their Esteem justly. 1813Southey Nelson II. vi. 34 A man, upon whose sagacity, he could place full reliance. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. x. II. 591 No confidence could be placed in any of the twelve Judges.
5. To determine or indicate the place of; to assign a place to.
a. To assign or refer to a particular locality or set of circumstances; to locate.
b. To assign a certain rank or station to; to rank, class.
c. To fix the chronological position of; to date; to fix, determine (a date).
1597Bacon Coulers Good & Evil Ess. (Arb.) 139 For sayth he [Cicero], aske a Stoicke which Philosophie is true, he will preferre his owne: Then aske him which approcheth next the truth, he will confesse the Academiques. So..the Epicure..as soone as he hath placed himselfe, he will place the Academiques next him. 1662Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. i. i. §20 Capellus placeth Cadmus in the third year of Othoniel. 1707Curios. in Husb. & Gard. 118 Having excluded them from the Society of Men, he places them among..Beasts. 1732Pope Ess. Man i. 50 Then, in the scale of reas'ning life, 'tis plain, There must be, somewhere, such a rank as Man: And all the question..is..if God has plac'd him wrong? 1885Pall Mall G. 24 Mar. 3/2 Lord Lytton,..learned in American dialects, could no doubt ‘place’ her particular peculiarities of pronunciation.
d. Racing. To state the place or position of (a horse, etc.) among the competitors when passing the winning post, which is usually done officially of the first three only; to be placed, to obtain a place among the first three. Also fig.
1826E. Craven Mem. Margravine of Anspach II. x. 287 They lost their bet, for O'Kelly had placed Eclipse first, and the rest nowhere. 1831Macaulay Ess., Boswell's Johnson (1887) 180 Boswell is the first of biographers. He has no second. He has distanced all his competitors so decidedly that it is not worth while to place them. Eclipse is first, and the rest nowhere. 1849Alb. Smith Pottleton Leg. 161 However you start, you'll never be placed. 1863Kingsley Water Bab. i, She came in nowhere, and is consequently not placed. 1895Daily News 4 Sept. 7/1 The last-named trio provided the winner and the placed horses. 1975Country Life 16 Jan. 136/1 The horse, Bahuddin, was not placed at Lingfield.
e. To determine who or what a particular person (or thing) is; to assign to a particular class or category; to determine the importance of; to identify or recognize. orig. U.S.
1855Knickerbocker XLV. 194 Who is our friend?.. And [are] ‘K. Y.’ his initials? If yea, we can't ‘place’ him. 1886Century Mag. Feb. 512/2 I've seen you before, but I can't place you. 1890Harper's Mag. July 291/2 He had no memory of having ever heard it before... For a while he could not place it. 1899H. James Awkward Age vi. xxi. 218 Don't you feel..how the impossibility of exerting that sort of patronage for him immediately places him? 1904A. Sterling Belle of Fifties v. 79, I observed..a very busy little woman..whose face was familiar to me, but whom I found myself unable to place. 1911G. B. Shaw Doctor's Dilemma iii. 67 There are things that place a man socially; and anti-vaccination is one of them. 1923H. G. Wells Men like Gods i. ii. 19 For a time Mr. Barnstaple could not place him. 1928H. Crane Let. 31 Jan. (1965) 315 One can generally ‘place’ people to some extent. 1935N. Mitchison We have been Warned iv. 454 [She] was trying to place his public-school tie... Harrow—Marlborough? 1941‘G. Orwell’ Lion & Unicorn i. 53 In 1910 every human being in these islands could be ‘placed’ in an instant by his clothes, manners and accent. 1950J. Cannan Murder Included iii. 47 She had put on a little blue frock..and Price ‘placed her’ at once as an adventuress, who had ‘caught’ Sir Charles. 1956E. Berckman Beckoning Dream ii. 12 ‘Good-day,’ said Connie..‘I'm Mrs Walworth's daughter-in-law.’ ‘Ah, yes,’ said Mr. Sinclair, who obviously had not been able to place her. 1969Listener 13 Feb. 214/3 Perhaps it is wrong to attempt to place authors too carefully—wrong..to try to sort them into first, second, third and fourth divisions. 1972J. Blackburn For Fear of Little Men i. 24 His full name's Hans Graebe, isn't it?... He rings a bell, but I can't place him. 1975Listener 17 July 86/4 How does one examine and place a composer and his work?
f. intr. Racing, Athletics, etc. To achieve a certain place or position (in a race, etc.); to be placed, spec. among the first three (U.S. the first two). Also transf.
1924P. Marks Plastic Age 276 He was going to place in the hundred and win the two-twenty or die in the attempt. 1936Mencken Amer. Lang. (ed. 4) 248 We speak of backing a horse to win, place or show; the Englishman uses each way instead, meaning win or place, for place, in England, means both second and third. 1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §740/3 Place, to finish second, or at least second. 1944College Topics (Univ. of Virginia) 30 Mar. 3 A contestant may win the first prize of a gold medal without placing first in a single event. 1949Sun (Baltimore) 27 Aug. 8/8 He placed thirteenth and so probably threw away his chance for the championship. 1955W. W. Denlinger Compl. Boston 66 She [sc. a bitch] placed fourth in the group at Westminster in 1945. 1968Globe & Mail (Toronto) 13 Feb. 7/6 Organizers for other candidates feel Mr. Trudeau would run first, second or third on the first ballot. They doubt whether he can win unless he places first on the first ballot. 1968‘E. Lathen’ Come to Dust (1969) x. 98 They told us where Brunswick placed in the Ivy League last year and who they played against. 1972Observer 17 Sept. 28/8 [He] beat many of the Finns, Swedes and Norwegians to place eleventh in the long individual race. 1975Oxf. Compan. Sports & Games 582/2 She finished only seventh over-all at the Games... Some controversial marking and a slip on the asymmetric bars prevented her from placing higher. 1976New Yorker 8 Mar. 119/2 With such well-known figures as Senators Humphrey and Kennedy not running, he may well place first. 1976Horse & Hound 10 Dec. 70/3 (Advt.), He won 3 times and placed 3 times. 1979Sporting Life 27 Aug. 24/1 (Advt.), Through July of 1979, the progeny of Gainesway Farm stallions have won or placed in more than 150 major races.
6. To assign, attribute, impute, ascribe.
a. To hold (a quality or attribute) to reside or consist in something.
†b. To refer (a fact or circumstance) to something as a cause; to ‘put down’ to. Obs.
1608Willet Hexapla Exod. 830 They placed a certaine religion in the shadow of trees. 1631Gouge God's Arrows iii. §8. 199 They did not place honour or honesty simply in victory. 1697Locke Repl. to Bp. of Worcester's Answ. to his Let. 97 Whether..I am..mistaken, in the placing Certainty in the Perception of the Agreement or Dis-agreement of Ideas. 1802E. Parsons Myst. Visit I. 105 He placed it [her delight] to the ease it would afford her anxiety. 1814Jane Austen Mansf. Park xliv, She..places her disappointment..to her being..less affluent than many of her acquaintance.
7. Football (Rugby). To get (a goal) from a place-kick.
1890Daily News 3 Nov. 5/3 A goal placed from a try. 1896Field 8 Feb. 207/1 Thompson placed a goal.
Hence ˈplacing ppl. a.
1948F. R. Leavis Great Tradition iii. 146 In Roderick Hudson..he has already achieved a maturely poised ‘placing’ irony in the treatment of certain characteristics of American life.
Add:[3.] e. To order or obtain a connection for (a telephone call), esp. through an operator. Chiefly N. Amer.
1943A. L. Albert Fund. Telephony viii. 190 This is a very direct method of placing toll calls and gives the telephone user a toll service which compares with local service in speed of completing calls. 1974U. Le Guin Dispossessed vii. 175 She not only helped him look up the name in the ponderous directory of telephone numbers, but placed the call for him on the shop phone. 1989InfoWorld 3 Apr. 57/3 We had to place several calls before getting through to the technicians.
▪ IV. place
obs. erron. f. pleas (pl. of plea: see Common Pleas); obs. f. please. |