English
place
Pronunciation
  • enPR: plās, IPA: /pleɪs/, [pʰl̥eɪs]
Noun

place (plural places)

  1. (physical) An area; somewhere within an area.
    1. An open space, particularly a city square, market square, or courtyard.
      • c. 1590, William Shakespeare, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act IV, scene iv
        Ay, sir, the other squirrel was stolen from me by the hangman's boys in the market-place
    2. A group of houses.
      They live at Westminster Place.
    3. An inhabited area: a village, town, or city.
    4. Any area of the earth: a region.
      He is going back to his native place on vacation.
    5. The area one occupies, particularly somewhere to sit.
      We asked the restaurant to give us a table with three places.
    6. The area where one lives: one's home, formerly (chiefly) country estates and farms.
      • 1853, Charles Dickens, Bleak House, ch 2:
        My Lady Dedlock has been down at what she calls, in familiar conversation, her "place" in Lincolnshire.
      Do you want to come over to my place later?
    7. An area of the skin.
    8. (euphemism slang) An area to urinate and defecate: an outhouse or lavatory.
      • 1901, John Stephen Farmer & al., Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present, Vol. V, page 220:
        Place,... (2) a jakes, or house of ease.
      • 1951, William Styron, Lie Down in Darkness, Ch. ii, page 59:
        ‘I guess I'll take this opportunity to go to the place’...
        ‘She means the little girls room.’
    9. (obsolete) An area to fight: a battlefield or the contested ground in a battle.
  2. A location or position in space.
    • c. 1595–1596, William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act II, scene v]:
      In that same place thou hast appointed me,
      To-morrow truly will I meete with thee.
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book 2”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: Printed [by Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […] [a]nd by Robert Boulter […] [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], OCLC 228722708 ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: The Text Exactly Reproduced from the First Edition of 1667: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554 ↗:
      What place can be for us / Within heaven's bound?
  3. A particular location in a book or document, particularly the current location of a reader.
  4. (obsolete) A passage or extract from a book or document.
  5. (obsolete, rhetoric) A topic.
  6. A frame of mind.
    I'm in a strange place at the moment.
  7. (chess, obsolete) A chess position; a square of the chessboard.
  8. (social) A responsibility or position in an organization.
    1. A role or purpose; a station.
      It is really not my place to say what is right and wrong in this case.
      • 1625, Francis Bacon, Of Great Place
        Men in great place are thrice servants.
      • c. 1601–1602, William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or VVhat You VVill”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act II, scene v]:
        I know my place as I would they should do theirs.
    2. The position of a contestant in a competition.
      We thought we would win but only ended up in fourth place.
    3. (horse-racing) The position of first, second, or third at the finish, especially the second position.
      to win a bet on a horse for place
    4. The position as a member of a sports team.
      He lost his place in the national team.
  9. (obsolete) A fortified position: a fortress, citadel, or walled town.
  10. Numerically, the column counting a certain quantity.
    three decimal places;  the hundreds place
  11. Ordinal relation; position in the order of proceeding.
    That's what I said in the first place!
    • 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 […]
  12. Reception; effect; implying the making room for.
    • Bible, Gospel of John viii. 37
      My word hath no place in you.
Synonyms Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations
  • Portuguese: mentalidade
Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Verb

place (places, present participle placing; past and past participle placed)

Additional archaic forms include the second-person singular past tense placedst.
  1. (transitive) To put (an object or person) in a specific location.
    He placed the glass on the table.
  2. (intransitive) To earn a given spot in a competition.
    The Cowboys placed third in the league.
    1. (intransitive, racing) To finish second, especially of horses or dogs.
      In the third race: Aces Up won, paying eight dollars; Blarney Stone placed, paying three dollars; and Cinnamon showed, paying five dollars.
  3. (transitive) 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. (transitive, in the passive) To achieve (a certain position, often followed by an ordinal) as in a horse race.
    Run Ragged was placed fourth in the race.
  5. (transitive) To sing (a note) with the correct pitch.
  6. (transitive) To arrange for or to make (a bet).
    I placed ten dollars on the Lakers beating the Bulls.
  7. (transitive) To recruit or match an appropriate person for a job.
    They phoned hoping to place her in the management team.
  8. (sports, transitive) To place-kick (a goal).
Synonyms
  • (to earn a given spot)
  • (to put in a specific location) deposit, lay, lay down, put down
  • (to remember where and when something or someone was previously encountered)
  • (passive) achieve, make
  • (to sing (a note) with the correct pitch) reach
  • (to arrange for, make (a bet))
  • (to recruit or match an appropriate person)
Translations Translations Translations
  • Portuguese: lembrar-se
  • Spanish: situar
Translations Translations Translations Translations
Place
Proper noun
  1. Surname


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