place
Forms
- Plural
- places
- present (v1)
- place
- past (v2)
- placed
- past participle (v3)
- placed
- present participle
- placing
- 3rd person singular
- places
Definitions
1.An area; somewhere within an area.
- Place,.. (2) a jakes, or house of ease.
- Do you want to come over to my place later?
- He is going back to his native place on vacation.
2.A location or position in space.
- I'll check places I think she might be.
- What place can be for us / Within heaven's bound?
3.Proper or usual position.
- A place for everything, and everything in its place.
4.A particular location in a book or document, particularly the current location of a reader
- I lost my place when you interrupted me.
1.To put (someone or something) in a specific location.
- He placed the glass on the table.
2.To earn a given spot in a competition; to rank at a certain position ((often followed by an ordinal)).
- The Cowboys placed third in the league.
- Run Ragged was placed fourth in the race.
- In the third race: Aces Up won, paying eight dollars; Blarney Stone placed, paying three dollars; and Cinnamon showed, paying five dollars.
3.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.
4.To vouch for someone's alibi.
- The librarian was placed at home by her neighbor at the time of the murder.
Frequency
Overall
Very common· #186
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Common
- General reading & writing
- Very common
- Academic
- Uncommon
- Literature
- Uncommon
Related words
Etymology
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.