Emily Dickinson Lexicon

plank (-s), n. [ME < ONFr < L. planca, board, plank, slab.] (webplay: inch).

1. Board; wooden panel; raw building material; broad piece of sawed timber used in construction.
2. Narrow bridge; single board; visible support; narrow piece of wood providing a path across the water or into the sea; [fig.] phrase; clause; line of verse.
3. Floorboard; piece of a building's foundation.
4. Long, thin board; timber used to save a shipwrecked person from drowning; [fig.] broad, flat leaf.
5. Air-borne object; [metonymy] ship; boat; sea-going vessel; [fig.] thin, flat blade of grass.