park
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: pärk
ipa: /pɑɹk/
ipa: [pʰɑɹk]
ipa: [pɑɹk]
ipa: [pʰɑːk]
ipa: [pʰɐːk]
ipa: [pʰaːk]
ipa: [pʰɒək]
note: Ghana
ipa: /pɐk/
rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)k
Forms: form: parks
form: parking
form: parked
form: parked
Etymology: From Middle English park, from Old French parc (“livestock pen”), from Medieval Latin parcus, parricus, from Frankish *parrik (“enclosure, pen, fence”). Cognate with Dutch perk (“enclosure; flowerbed”), Old High German pfarrih, pferrih (“enclosure, pen”), Old English pearroc (“enclosure”) (whence modern English paddock), Old Norse parrak, parak (“enclosure, pen; distress, anxiety”), Icelandic parraka (“to keep pent in under restraint and coercion”). More at parrock, paddock.
Senses: examples: text: You can park the car in front of the house.
text: I parked the drive heads of my hard disk before travelling with my laptop.
text: Parking is by app, which (when it works) is good. But £7.70 to park is extortionate, so GTR needs to look at reducing that.
ref: 2025 October 15, 'Mystery Shopper', “About Anglia... and high scores”, in RAIL, number 1046, page 53:
antonyms: unpark
glosses: To bring (something such as a vehicle) to a halt or store in a specified place.
examples: text: Let's park that until next week's meeting.
text: The Harry Potter spin-off prequel series Fantastic Beasts has been “parked” by Warner Bros, according to its director David Yates.
ref: 2023 October 27, “Fantastic Beasts: JK Rowling franchise has been ‘parked’, director says”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
glosses: To defer (a matter) until a later date.
examples: text: to park artillery, wagons, automobiles, etc.
glosses: To bring together in a park, or compact body.
examples: text: O, negligent and heedless discipline!
How are we park'd and bounded in a pale,
A little herd of England's timorous deer,
Mazed with a yelping kennel of French curs!
ref: 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
glosses: To enclose in a park, or as in a park.
examples: text: He really parked that one.
topics: ball-games
baseball
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: To hit a home run; to hit the ball out of the park.
examples: text: They stopped at a romantic overlook, shut off the engine, and parked.
text: "What did you do after that?" he asked. - "Went parking over at Silver Lake," replied Betty without hesitation. "Why?" - "I just wondered. Have fun?" "As a matter of fact, I did. Marty's a swell dancer." "That's not what I meant." "What did you mean?" - "I mean after. Parking." - "Yes I did […]"
ref: 1956, Grace Metalious, Peyton Place, page 199:
text: A. Well, I had heard that it was used for parking place, but I never went parking there. Q. Excuse me? A. I had heard that it had been used for a parking place, but I had never gone parking there. Q. When you say “Parking place,” what do you mean? A. With a guy and a girl.
ref: 1968, “People vs. Hawkins”, in Records & Briefs New York State Appellate Division, page 861:
text: The Phyllis and me go "parking." This is a very American thing to me, this "parking,” but Phyllis says that this is what couples in this country do when they are dating. We can't go to her house because her parents are there which is okay with me. / We are parking on a quiet street and we get in the backseat of my car. We begin to kiss and I start to feel her body.
ref: 1996, Joseph Tropiano, Stanley Tucci, Big Night: A Novel with Recipes, page 37:
text: Tim and I never went parking when we were dating, but now that we've been married, it's been a fun date once in a while. (OK, we never actually leave the driveway, but the car was still parked.)
ref: 2001, Tamyra Horst, Ratty Bathrobes, Cranky Kids, and Other Romantic Moments, page 47:
text: They were parking out near the hills. It's a popular spot for submarine races. They went for a little moonlit stroll. I'm sure they had nightmares after what they saw. Mary Alice was hanging from a tree by her bare feet. Naked.
ref: 2001, James Patterson, Violets Are Blue:
text: They had gone to see the Robert De Niro/Liza Minnelli flick, New York, New York, before driving back to Bensonhurst and parking on a quiet street. As they kissed, Berkowitz opened fire
ref: 2008, Tim McLoughlin, Thomas Adcock, Brooklyn Noir 3: Nothing But the Truth:
glosses: To engage in romantic or sexual activities inside a nonmoving vehicle that was driven to a suitable spot for that purpose.
examples: text: He came in and parked himself in our living room.
text: Park your bags in the hall.
text: "Entertain M. Paul while I go and get my shoes. I parked 'em under a rosebush."
ref: 1930, Sax Rohmer, The Day the World Ended, published 1969, page vii. 59:
text: [S]o I rode home on my brand new tricycle to find the rest of the family parked in front of the box.
ref: 1995, Paul Vautin, Turn It Up!, Sydney: Pan Macmillan Australia, page 87:
glosses: To sit, recline, or put, especially in a manner suggesting an intent to remain for some time.
examples: text: We decided to park our money in a safe, stable, low-yield bond fund until market conditions improve.
topics: business
finance
glosses: To invest money temporarily in an investment instrument considered to relatively free of risk, especially while awaiting other opportunities.
glosses: To register a domain name, but make no use of it (See domain parking)
qualifier: oyster culture
glosses: To enclose in a park, or partially enclosed basin.
glosses: To promenade or drive in a park.
glosses: To display style or gait on a park drive.
raw_tags: of horses
Derived terms: double-park
mispark
overpark
parkability
parkable
park and bark
park and ride
park-and-ride
park a tiger
park in
park that thought
park the beef bus in tuna town
park the bus
park up
repark
self-parking