“Placing” is a form of
place
/ˈpleɪ̯s/ noun, verb, proper noun
Also a form of Laplace
Forms places placing placed placest placedst placeth yplaced pleace
- noun An open space, particularly a city square, market square, or courtyard.
- noun (often in street names or addresses) A street, sometimes but not always surrounding a public place, square, or plaza of the same name. “They live at Westminster Place.”
- noun An inhabited area: a village, town, or city.
- noun Any area of the earth: a region. “He is going back to his native place on vacation.”
- noun The area one occupies, particularly somewhere to sit. “We asked the restaurant to give us a table with three places.”
- noun The area where one lives: one's home, formerly (chiefly) country estates and farms. “Do you want to come over to my place later?”
- noun An area of the body, especially the skin. “Which place hurts the most?”
- noun (euphemistic slang) An area to urinate and defecate: an outhouse or lavatory.
- verb (transitive) To put (someone or something) in a specific location. “He placed the glass on the table.”
- verb (ergative) 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.”
- verb (intransitive, motor 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.”
- verb (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.”
- verb (transitive) To vouch for someone's alibi. “The librarian was placed at home by her neighbor at the time of the murder.”
- verb (transitive) To sing (a note) with the correct pitch.
- verb (transitive, in collocations) To make. “to place a call”
- verb (transitive) To bet. “I placed ten dollars on the Lakers beating the Bulls.”
- proper noun A surname.
- proper noun An unincorporated community in the town of Farmington, Strafford County, New Hampshire, United States.
Synonyms
courtyard piazza plaza square seat bathroom frame of mind mindset mood location position situation stead stell spot locus lay lay down put down set down topographic point property lieu shoes home post berth office billet station
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, platz, and plaza.
In the etymological chain from Latin platēa, note Old French place, which has multiple descendants — including German Platz, itself with many descendants (e.g., Russian плац (plac)). Also note a more distant chain node Ancient Greek πλατύς (platús), whence English Plato and English plate (via Latin).
From Middle English placen, from the noun (see above).
Webster’s 1913
- noun Any portion of space regarded as measured off or distinct from all other space, or appropriated to some definite object or use; position; ground; site; spot; rarely, unbounded space.
- noun A broad way in a city; an open space; an area; a court or short part of a street open only at one end. "Hangman boys in the market place." Shak.
- verb To assign a place to; to put in a particular spot or place, or in a certain relative position; to direct to a particular place; to fix; to settle; to locate; as, to place a book on a shelf; to place balls in tennis.
- verb To put or set in a particular rank, office, or position; to surround with particular circumstances or relations in life; to appoint to certain station or condition of life; as, in whatever sphere one is placed.
Etymology [F., fr. L. platea a street, an area, a courtyard, from Gr. platei^a a street, properly fem. of platy`s, flat, broad; akin to Skr. prsthu, Lith. platus. Cf. Flawn, Piazza, Plate, Plaza.]
Etymology [Cf. F. placer. See Place, n.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “place”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details