Definition of "place"

(physical) An area; somewhere within an area.

1. An open space, particularly a city square, market square, or courtyard.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Ay, sir, the other squirrel was stolen from me by the hangman's boys in the market-place

     c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act IV, scene iv]

2. (often in street names or addresses) A street, sometimes but not always surrounding a public place, square, or plaza of the same name.  examples

3. An inhabited area: a village, town, or city.  examples

4. Any area of the earth: a region.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • From another point of view, it was a place without a soul. The well-to-do had hearts of stone; the rich were brutally bumptious; the Press, the Municipality, all the public men, were ridiculously, vaingloriously self-satisfied.

     1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company

5. The area one occupies, particularly somewhere to sit.  examples

6. (chiefly) country estates and farms.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • My Lady Dedlock has been down at what she calls, in familiar conversation, her "place" in Lincolnshire.

     1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, chapter 2, in Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853

7. An area of the body, especially the skin.  examples

8. (euphemistic slang) An area to urinate and defecate: an outhouse or lavatory.  quotations

   Quotations

   • Place,... (2) a jakes, or house of ease.

     1901, John Stephen Farmer et al., Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present, volume V, page 220

   • ‘I guess I'll take this opportunity to go to the place’...‘She means the little girls room.’

     1951, William Styron, chapter II, in Lie Down in Darkness, page 59

9. (obsolete) An area to fight: a battlefield or the contested ground in a battle.

A location or position in space.  quotations  examples

A particular location in a book or document, particularly the current location of a reader.  examples

(obsolete) A passage or extract from a book or document.

(obsolete, rhetoric) A topic.

A state of mind.  examples

(chess, obsolete) A chess position; a square of the chessboard.

(social) A responsibility or position in an organization.

1. A role or purpose; a station.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • I know my place as I would they should do theirs.

     c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act II, scene v]

   • Escalus.Esc.I shall desire you, Sir, to giue me leaueTo haue free speech with you; and it concernes meTo looke into the bottome of my place :A powre I haue, but of what strength and nature,I am not yet instructed.

     c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene i]

   • Men in great place are thrice servants.

     1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Great Place”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret

   • The [Washington] Post's proprietor through those turbulent [Watergate] days, Katharine Graham, held a double place in Washington’s hierarchy: at once regal Georgetown hostess and scrappy newshound, ready to hold the establishment to account.

     2013 August 10, Lexington, “Keeping the mighty honest”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848

2. The position of a contestant in a competition.  examples

3. (horse racing) The position of first, second, or third at the finish, especially the second position.  examples

4. The position as a member of a sports team.  examples

(obsolete) A fortified position: a fortress, citadel, or walled town.

Numerically, the column counting a certain quantity.  examples

Ordinal relation; position in the order of proceeding.  quotations  examples

Reception; effect; implying the making room for.  quotations  examples

(transitive) To put (an object or person) in a specific location.  quotations  examples

(intransitive) To earn a given spot in a competition.

1. (intransitive, motor racing) To finish second, especially of horses or dogs.  examples

(transitive, passive voice) To rank at (a certain position, often followed by an ordinal) as in a horse race.  examples

(transitive) To remember where and when (an object or person) has been previously encountered.  examples

(transitive) To sing (a note) with the correct pitch.  examples

(transitive) To arrange for or to make (a bet).  examples

(transitive) To establish a call (connection by telephone or similar).  quotations  examples

(transitive) To recruit or match an appropriate person for a job, or a home for an animal for adoption, etc.  examples

(sports, transitive) To place-kick (a goal).  examples