Skip to content
ontologydriven
Sign out

Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

two-forty on a plank road en · X

Meanings

  1. (Canada, US, obsolete, slang) A very fast speed.
    • […] some that remained, running to and fro, with white rags suspended on broom-handles, and an old darky had a bleached salt-sack tied to a limb of a tree, waving it at the rate of two-forty on a plank-road. 1862, Frank Moore, The Rebellion Record, a Diary of American Events, page 474:
    • The passion of young New York is for horses — fast horses — two-forty on a plank road. 1852, G. Henry Howard Paul, Dashes of American humour, page 206:
  2. (Canada, US, broadly, obsolete, slang) The quality of being "fast", i.e. immoral in one's habits.
    • In Canada, where trotting is also a very favourite amusement, and whence came the famous trotting mare Flora Temple, a very “fast” young lady is generally spoken of as “two forty on a plank road.” 1867, The Broadway Annual, page 596: