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Fig.: That which supports or upholds, as a board does a swimmer. His charity is a better plank than the faith of an intolerant and bitter-minded bigot. Southey.

The course of plank laid horizontally over the timberheads of a vessel's frame.

The act of laying planks; also, planks, collectively; a series of planks in place, as the wooden covering of the frame of a vessel.

plants, taken collectively, which live at or near the surface of salt or fresh waters. --Plank*ton"ic (#), a.

Hence, direct; plain; unqualified; -- said of language; as, a point-blank assertion. Point-blank range, the extent of the apparent right line of a ball discharged. -- Point-blank shot, the shot of a gun pointed directly toward the object to be hit.

imp. & p. p. of Slink.

A kind of worsted blanket or wrap.

A blank book, in which to insert autographs sketches, memorial writing of friends, photographs, etc.

Fig.: Lean; lank; raw-boned; ungraceful; sharp and stiff in character; as, remarkably angular in his habits and appearance; an angular female. Angular aperture, Angular distance. See Aperture, Distance. -- Angular motion, the motion of a body about a fixed point or fixed axis, as of a planet or pendulum. It is equal t…

A platform, or flooring of plank, at the entrance of a dock, against which the dock gates are shut.

inable. [Obs.] General Howe would not permit the purchase of those articles [clothes and blankets] in Philadelphia, and they were not attainable in the country. Marshall.

metal balls. -- Ball cartridge, a cartridge containing a ball, as distinguished from a blank cartridge, containing only powder. -- Ball cock, a faucet or valve which is opened or closed by the fall or rise of a ball floating in water at the end of a lever. -- Ball gudgeon, a pivot of a spherical form, which permits…

rch.), ornamental stonework resembling bars of iron twisted into the forms required. -- Blank bar (Law). See Blank. -- Case at bar (Law), a case presently before the court; a case under argument. -- In bar of, as a sufficient reason against; to prevent. -- Matter in bar, or Defence in bar, a plea which is a final d…

A piece of defensive (or, sometimes, ornamental) armor for a horse's neck, breast, and flanks; a barb. [Often in the pl.]

A home-made woolen blanket without nap. [Local, New York] Bartlett.

ting outward from the main inclosure of a fortification, consisting of two faces and two flanks, and so constructed that it is able to defend by a flanking fire the adjacent curtain, or wall which extends from one bastion to another. Two adjacent bastions are connected by the curtain, which joins the flank of one with…

A strip of reglet or other furniture to bear off the impression from a blank page; also, a type or type-high piece of metal interspersed in blank parts to support the plate when it is shaved.

The widest part of a vessel below the plank-sheer. (c) pl.

Blankets, sheets, coverlets, etc., for a bed. Shak.

road band of white round the middle, while the rest of the body is black; -- called also blanketed cattle.