walk the plank

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English[edit]

WOTD – 19 September 2020

Pronunciation[edit]

A 19th-century illustration of a person made to walk the plank (sense 1) by pirates.[n 1]

Verb[edit]

walk the plank (third-person singular simple present walks the plank, present participle walking the plank, simple past and past participle walked the plank)

  1. (historical, also figurative) On an early naval vessel or pirate ship: to be forced to walk off the end of a gangplank (a plank of wood extending outwards from the side of the vessel) and plunge into the ocean and drown, used as a method of killing.
    Synonym: walk the gangplank
    • [1788, [Francis Grose], “Walking the Plank”, in A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 2nd edition, London: […] S. Hooper, […], →OCLC:
      Walking the Plank. A mode of deſtroying devoted perſons or officers in a mutiny on ſhip-board, by blindfolding them, and obliging them to walk on a plank laid over the ſhip's ſide; by this means, as the mutineers ſuppoſe, avoiding the penalty of murder.]
    • 1835, chapter XI, in Blackbeard. A Page from the Colonial History of Philadelphia. […], volume II, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 137:
      Wo unto the crews of such English vessels as now fell into his [Blackbeard's] hands! he showed them no mercy; they either walked the plank, or the hatches were nailed down upon them, and they went down in the scuttled ship.
    • 1868, Louisa M[ay] Alcott, “Camp Laurence”, in Little Women: […], part first, Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, published 1869, →OCLC, page 188:
      The Portuguese held his tongue like a brick, and walked the plank, while the jolly tars cheered like mad. But the sly dog dived, came up under the man-of-war, scuttled her, and down she went, with all sail set, 'To the bottom of the sea, sea, sea,' where—
    • 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Fall of a Chieftain”, in Treasure Island, London, Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC, part VI (Captain Silver), page 283:
      How many it [the treasure] had cost in the amassing, what blood and sorrow, what good ships scuttled on the deep, what brave men walking the plank blindfold, what shot of cannon, what shame and lies and cruelty, perhaps no man alive could tell.
    • 1889, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Master’s Wanderings”, in The Master of Ballantrae. […], London, Paris: Cassell & Company, […], →OCLC, page 56:
      [I]t is quite a painful reflection how many whole crews we have made to walk the plank for no more than a stock of biscuit or an anker or two of spirit.
    • 1911, J[ames] M[atthew] Barrie, “The Pirate Ship”, in Peter and Wendy, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, page 212:
      Hook smiled on them with his teeth closed, and took a step toward Wendy. His intention was to turn her face so that she should see the boys walking the plank one by one.
    • [1915?], Daniel O’Connor, “The Pirate Ship”, in The Story of Peter Pan: Retold from the Fairy Play by Sir J. M. Barrie, Toronto, Ont.: The Musson Book Company, →OCLC, page 66:
      He seated himself on a chair covered with a white bearskin, waiting while the Boys, whose wrists were chained together, were dragged out of the hold and brought before him. Six of them, he said, were to walk the plank at once, but he would save any two who were willing to be cabin boys.
    • 1923 January 5, Ralph D[elahaye] Paine, “Doubloons”, in Sea Stories Magazine, volume III, number 5, New York, N.Y.: Street & Smith, →OCLC, chapter VII, page 36, column 1:
      "Forward march!" commanded Dan. "Give me a lift, Max. His knees have begun to sag, the big kettle of mush! We'll throw him into the dory." / "Aye, aye, admiral. Do we tie a weight to his feet, or does he walk the plank?" / "He would look ornamental hanged at the yardarm, Max. Let's get him aboard the sloop first. Then we shall have to sail out of the bay with what wind there is and find another anchorage. We want no interference while we are prying the truth out of this festive beach comber."
    • 1953, Patrick Pringle, “On the Account”, in Jolly Roger: The Story of the Great Age of Piracy, Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications, published 2012, →ISBN:
      It has often been written that pirates commonly killed their prisoners, usually by the picturesque method of making them ‘walk the plank.’ This is untrue. I have ransacked official records, reports of trials, and much other documentary evidence without being able to discover a single case of walking the plank. I do not mean merely that I have not found an authenticated case. In all the contemporary literature on pirates I could not find even an accusation or suggestion that the practice was ever used. The very expression seems to have been invented many years after the Age of Piracy.
    • 2015 April, Peter Filichia, “The Musicals”, in The Great Parade: Broadway’s Astonishing, Never-to-be-forgotten 1963–64 Season, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Press, →ISBN, page 58:
      [Stephen] Sondheim and [Arthur] Laurents didn't give up. They decided that Fay's opening speech and song [in the musical Anyone Can Whistle] were overkill and one had to go. In a move one wouldn't expect in a musical, "There Won't Be Trumpets" walked the plank while the speech stayed.
  2. (idiomatic) To be forced to resign from a position in an organization.
    Synonym: walk the gangplank
    After he was caught selling company secrets, it’s not surprising they made him walk the plank.
    • 1910, Ben[jamin] B[arr] Lindsey, Harvey J[errold] O’Higgins, “The Beast in the County Court”, in The Beast, New York, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, →OCLC, page 77:
      I forgot that I had been given the place as a "political reward." I was immediately reminded of it by the expectations of those political "workers" whom the Board of County Commissioners wished me to appoint to officers in my court. […] When I refused to make a single clerk "walk the plank," their indignation was amazing.
    • 1964, William A. Keleher, “Judge Vincent and Grover Cleveland”, in Maxwell Land Grant: A New Mexico Item, 2nd edition, Albuquerque, N.M.: University of New Mexico Press, published 1983, →ISBN, page 137:
      [Grover] Cleveland stood pat and another "carpet bagger" [William A. Vincent, Chief Justice of the First Judicial District, Territory of New Mexico] had walked the plank to political exile so far as New Mexico was concerned.
    • 1985, Richard S. Sloma, “Section I: What is a Turnaround?”, in The Turnaround Manager’s Handbook, Washington, D.C.: BeardBooks, published 1999, →ISBN, page 12:
      If, on the other hand, operating performance is poor to lousy, the COO [chief operating officer] walks the plank while the CEO [chief executive officer] accepts the resignation—which, by the way, is always for "personal" reasons, policy differences, or to pursue other (always unspecified) interests—with regret in varying degrees of intensity.
    • 2009, Taylor Branch, The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History with the President‎[1], New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN:
      So why on earth would [Bill] Clinton share any credit with Republicans? Did he remember summoning Democrats to walk the plank for this? How could any president spit on their sacrifice and uphold the party cohesion to survive?

Usage notes[edit]

Translations[edit]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ By Howard Pyle, from Howard Pyle (1887 September) “Buccaneers and Marooners of the Spanish Main. Second Paper.”, in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, volume LXXV, number CCCCXLVIII, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 511.

Further reading[edit]

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