place

Less common meanings

12. 12
    nouncountable or uncountable

    A seat or space reserved for or occupied by a particular person, as at a table.

    Is this place taken?

    Set six places for dinner.

    UsageCommon in save someone a place, set six places and take your places.

    Similarseat, setting

13. 13
    know againverbtransitive

    To remember where and when a person or thing was previously encountered.

    It took me a minute to place her face.

    He placed the tune at last, a hymn from school.

    UsageOften negative, with can't or couldn't: I can't place her; I couldn't place the voice.

    Similarrecognize, identify, remember, recall

14. 14
    point in a booknouncountable or uncountable

    A particular location in a book or document, especially where a reader has got to.

    She found her place and read on.

    He slipped a receipt between the pages to keep his place.

    UsageYou lose, find or keep your place in a book.

    Similarpage, spot, point

15. 15
    verbtransitive

    To match a person with a suitable job, or an animal with an adoptive home.

    The agency will place you within a week.

    Twelve kittens were placed by Christmas.

    UsageUsually place someone in a job or an animal with a family.

    Similarrehome, assign

16. 16
    nouncountable or uncountable

    Membership of a sports team as one of its selected players, a position that can be won or lost.

    A bad season cost him his place.

    There are only eleven places in the starting side, and twenty players want them.

    UsageA place on a team or in a squad; players win, earn or lose their place.

    Similarspot, position, berth

17. 17
    order (of steps)nouncountable or uncountable

    The position something holds in a sequence of steps or stages, as first, next, or last.

    In the first place, the plan costs too much, and in the second place, nobody really wants it.

    Why did you go there in the first place?

    UsageMostly in in the first place, which can count a point or mean at the start.

    Note

    Position in a sequence of points is most familiar in the phrases in the first place, in the second place. Mather Byles climbs them like a comic ladder: first, he does not understand politics; second, everyone else does. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • Mather Byles enumerated his reasons by saying first that he did not understand politics and second that his listeners did. upload.wikimedia.org
18. 18
    digit columnnouncountable or uncountable

    In numbers, the column counting a certain quantity.

    Move every digit one place to the left to multiply by ten.

    In the number 4,725, the digit 7 is in the hundreds place.

    UsageCommon in decimal places and names like the hundreds place.

    Similarposition, column

19. 19
    spot on bodynouncountable or uncountable

    A localized area of the body, most often of the skin.

    Show the doctor the place where it itches.

    Bruised places showed on both arms.

    Similarspot, area, patch

20. 20
    second or betternouncountable or uncountable

    In horse racing, a finish among the leading runners behind or including the winner, especially second place.

    Our horse never looked like winning, but it held on for a place in a tight finish.

    A place bet pays less than a win bet, but you still collect if your horse finishes second.

    Note

    Racing narrows the word from any finish to a paying one: first, second or third, with second as the typical meaning. A bet on a horse for place pays if it finishes among the paying places, which in American racing means first or second. Its partner is the verb place: in North American use a horse that places has finished second, while in Britain a placed horse is any that finished in the paying places. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • In American horse racing, a place bet pays when the selected horse finishes first or second. nyra.com
21. 21
    street namenouncountable or uncountable

    A street, often in names or addresses, sometimes surrounding a square or plaza of the same name.

    The office is on Regent Place, not Regent Street.

    Her new apartment is on Maple Place, a short street just off the main road.

    Note

    Here the word names more than it describes. It turns up mostly in street names and addresses, capitalized, as in Westminster Place. The name may echo the open square, but it need not: a Place on the map can be an ordinary street with no square on it. So the address alone tells you nothing about the layout. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • Westminster Place is used as a street name or address. stlouis-mo.gov
    • A street named Place need not surround a square. pre.hillingdon.gov.uk
22. 22
    noundatedeuphemisticcountable or uncountable

    An area for urinating and defecating, such as an outhouse or lavatory, used euphemistically.

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

    1901, John Stephen Farmer et al., Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present

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

    1951, William Styron, Lie Down in Darkness

    Similartoilet, lavatory, bathroom, loo

    Note

    The euphemism works by vagueness: the lavatory becomes the place because any exact word would say too much. Farmer and Henley's slang dictionary, completed in 1904, already glosses it as 'a jakes, or house of ease'. In Styron's 1951 novel, 'go to the place' has to be translated as 'the little girls' room'. It comes with the definite article and a coy tone, and it suits speech and dialogue best. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • Farmer and Henley's slang dictionary was completed in 1904. mellenpress.com
    • The dictionary defines this sense of place as 'a jakes, or house of ease'. upload.wikimedia.org
    • The novel containing the quotation is William Styron's Lie Down in Darkness, first published in 1951. openlibrary.org
    • The novel's dialogue explains 'go to the place' as referring to the little girls' room. en.wiktionary.org
23. 23
    squarenouncountable or uncountable

    An open area, especially a square in a town or city, a marketplace, or a courtyard.

    Restaurants set out tables across the cobbled market place on summer evenings.

    Old towns grew round their market places.

    Similarsquare, plaza, piazza

    Note

    The word's history explains this meaning best. Latin platea meant a wide street or plaza, from Greek plateia, short for 'broad way'. English took it in twice, through Old English plæċe and Old French place, and both already meant an open space. Shakespeare's Launce loses a little dog, which he calls a squirrel, to the hangman's boys in the market-place, and that compound keeps the old square in view. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • Latin platea meant a wide street or open public space. en.wiktionary.org
    • Latin platea derives from Greek plateia, a shortening of the expression meaning 'broad way'. en.wiktionary.org
    • English place combines Old English plæċe and Old French place, both of which meant an open space. en.wiktionary.org
    • In The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act IV, scene iv, Launce reports that the hangman's boys stole Proteus's small dog, which he calls a 'squirrel'. gutenberg.org
24. 24
    room fornouncountable or uncountable

    Reception, effect, or the making of room for something.

    Doubt had no place in her mind.

    Give place to the new, the preacher urged.

    UsageMost often negative, in have no place in: hatred has no place in sport.

    Similarroom, space, way

    Note

    The space here is room in a mind or a hearing, not ground underfoot. The 1611 Bible's 'my word hath no place in you' means the word is not taken in or received. Don't confuse it with the plain sense of location: there is no where in this sense, only admission or refusal. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • The King James Bible was first published in 1611. loc.gov
    • The quotation occurs in the King James Bible, at John 8:37. en.wikisource.org
    • In this quotation, place refers to reception or effect rather than physical location. en.wiktionary.org
25. 25
    confirm alibiverbtransitive

    To establish where someone was, especially in vouching for an alibi.

    The receipt helps place her in the city that day.

    Three people placed him at the bar until midnight.

    UsageUsually place someone at a scene or in a city at a certain time.

    Similarput, locate

26. 26
    kick a goalverbtransitive

    In sports, to score a goal by kicking the ball from where it has been set on the ground.

    Similarkick

    Note

    In sports the word does the work of the compound place-kick. The object it takes is the score rather than the ball, so a kicker places a goal. The construction works like kick a goal, with place naming the particular kind of kick.

27. 27
    nounobsoletecountable or uncountable

    A stronghold, such as a walled town, citadel, or fortress.

    Note

    In this old military use, place alone meant a stronghold: a fortress, a citadel, a walled town. A modern reader will take the place in such a passage for an ordinary location unless the context shows a siege or a defense. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • Historically, place could mean a stronghold, including a fortress, citadel, or walled town. en.wiktionary.org
28. 28
    nouncountable

    An available spot for a single person to attend a school, college, or university, or to take part in a course or activity with a capped number of participants.

    Thousands of students apply each year for a place in the university's nursing program.

    He gave up his place in the summer art workshop so that his sister could go instead.

    UsageA place at a university or school, and a place on a course or in a program.

    Similarspot, slot

29. 29
    verb

    To sing a note squarely on pitch, without sliding up or down to it.
30. 30
    nounobsolete

    The ground where a battle is fought or the territory being contested.
31. 31
    nounobsolete

    A section of text taken out of a book or other written work.
32. 32
    nounobsolete

    A subject or theme for discussion or argument.
33. 33
    nounobsolete

    In chess, one of the squares on the board, the spot where a piece stands.