placard

Meanings

Noun

• A sheet of paper or cardboard with a written or printed announcement on one side for display in a public place.
• A public proclamation; a manifesto or edict issued by authority.
• Permission given by authority; a license.
• An extra plate on the lower part of the breastplate or backplate of armour.
• A kind of stomacher, often adorned with jewels, worn in the fifteenth century and later.
• The woodwork and frame of the door of a closet etc.

Verb

• To affix a placard to.
• To announce with placards.

Origin

• From Middle English placard ("official document"), from Middle French placard, placart, plaquart, from the Old French verb plaquer, plaquier, from Middle Dutch placken, plecken, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *plaggą ("a piece of cloth, patch"), equivalent to plaque + -ard.
• Related to Middle Low German placken ("to smear with lime or clay, plaster"), Saterland Frisian Plak, Plakke, German Placken ("a spot, patch"), Icelandic plagg ("a document"), Hebrew פלקט ("'plakat' a large sheet of paper, typically with a photo or writing, posted on the wall"), English play. Compare also Modern Dutch plakkaat ("placard"), Saterland Frisian Plakoat ("a placard, poster"). More at play.