platform

Etymology

From Middle French plateforme (“a flat form”), from plate (“flat”) (from Old French plat, from Ancient Greek πλατύς (platús, “flat”)) + forme (“form”) (from Latin fōrma (“shape; figure; form”)); compare flatscape.

noun

1. A raised stage from which speeches are made and on which musical and other performances are made.
   Always, whether in the pulpit or on the platform, as in private conversation, there is an absolute simplicity about the man and his words; a simplicity, an earnestness, a complete honesty. 1915, Russell H. Conwell, Robert Shackleton, chapter IV, in Acres of Diamonds, His Life and Achievements
2. A raised floor for any purpose, e.g. for workmen during construction, or formerly for military cannon.
3. (figurative) A place or an opportunity to express one's opinion.
   This new talk show will give a platform to everyday men and women.
   [LeBron] James did not say which vaccine he had taken or the number of doses he had received. He also said that he would not use his platform to publicly encourage others to be vaccinated. 2021-09-28, Scott Cacciola, “LeBron James said he was vaccinated, after previously evading the question.”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
4. (figurative) Something that allows an enterprise to advance.
   Hidgson may actually feel England could have scored even more but this was the perfect first step on the road to Rio in 2014 and the ideal platform for the second qualifier against Ukraine at Wembley on Tuesday. September 7, 2012, Phil McNulty, “Moldova 0-5 England”, in BBC Sport
5. (politics, figurative) A political stance on a broad set of issues, which are called planks.
   Now if the earth could be enjoyed in such a manner as every one might have provision, as it may by this platform I have offered, then will the peace of the commonwealth be preserved, and men need not act so hypocritically as the clergy do, and others likewise, to get a living. 1652, Gerrard Winstanley, chapter //dummy.host/index.php?title=s%3Aen%3AThe+Law+of+Freedom+in+a+Platform%2FChapter_1 1, in The Law of Freedom in a Platform
   The Communist Party and its candidates stand on the following platform, which expresses the immediate interests of the majority of the population of our country. 1936, Communist Election Platform 1936, New York City: Workers Library Publishers, page 6
   Surely there is nothing strange or new or threatening about such a platform. It will distress only those who have the essentially un-American view that change itself is frightening and should be avoided at all costs. 1972, Mike Gravel, Citizen Power: A People's Platform, New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, page xii
6. (transport) A raised structure or other area alongside rails or a driveway alongside which vehicles stop to take in and discharge passengers.
   A “moving platform” scheme[…]is more technologically ambitious than maglev trains even though it relies on conventional rails. […] Stopping high-speed trains wastes energy and time, so why not simply slow them down enough for a moving platform to pull alongside? 2013-06-01, “Ideas coming down the track”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 13 (Technology Quarterly)
7. (footwear, in the plural) Ellipsis of platform shoe: a kind of high shoe with an extra layer between the inner and outer soles.
   Walk to Shazzer's from polling station was hideous walk of shame. Also cannot wear platforms now as feet too crippled so will look short. 2001 [1999], Helen Fielding, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, New York: Penguin, page 167
8. (Internet) Ellipsis of digital platform: a software system used to provide online services to clients, such as social media, e-commerce, cloud computing etc.
   Finance is seldom romantic. But the idea of peer-to-peer lending comes close. This is an industry that brings together individual savers and lenders on online platforms. Those that want to borrow are matched with those that want to lend. 2013-06-01, “End of the peer show”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 71
   In fact, wealth and power are shifting to those who control the platforms on which all of us create, consume, and connect. 2014, Astra Taylor, “Preface”, in The People's Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age, Henry Holt and Company
   The promise of the platform business model is its magical self-reinforcement: Once the platform is in place, money is supposed to flow through the system without much extra effort at all. 2021-09-15, Reeves Wiedeman, “Why Does Every Company Now Want to Be a Platform?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
9. (computing) Ellipsis of computing platform: a particular type of operating system or environment such as a database or other specific software, and/or a particular type of computer or microprocessor, used to describe a particular environment for running other software.
   That program runs on the X Window System platform.
   “We used to produce our publication on the Mac, but the Wintel platform is cheaper and there are just as many applications available. So it just seemed to make sense to give up the religious war and get on with the business of doing our job,” said the information systems manager at a New York-based magazine, who asked not to be named. September 23, 1996, “Intel attacks Mac publishing niche”, in Computerworld, volume 30, number 39, →ISSN, page 56
10. (automotive) Ellipsis of car platform: a set of components shared by several vehicle models.
    A car platform consists of the underbody, suspension, and axles, plus components such as the steering mechanism, engine, and powertrain. Using such a platform, a car company can design several distinct car models to suit different customer groups[…] 2017, Vinod K. Jain, Global Strategy: Competing in the Connected Economy, Routledge, page 131
11. (geology) A flat expanse of rock, often the result of wave erosion.
    Wave erosion causes a sea cliff to migrate landward, leaving a gently sloping surface, called a wave-cut platform. A wave-built platform originates by deposition at the seaward margin of the wave-cut platform. 2019, Reed Wicander, James S. Monroe, Geology: Earth in Perspective, Cengage Learning, page 319
12. (nautical) A light deck, usually placed in a section of the hold or over the floor of the magazine.
13. (obsolete) A plan; a sketch; a model; a pattern.
14. (Myanmar) sidewalk

verb

1. (transitive) To furnish with or shape into a platform
   […] upon a smiling knoll platformed by Nature […] 1885, Frances Elliot, The Diary of an Idle Woman in Sicily, page 192
2. (transitive) To place on, or as if on, a platform.
   And this dog was satisfied / If a pale thin hand would glide / Down his dewlaps sloping / Which he pushed his nose within, / After—platforming his chin / On the palm left open. 1844, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, To Flush, My Dog
3. (rail transport) To place a train alongside a station platform.
   There he was welcomed onboard Vivarail's new three-car battery-powered train and Porterbrook's HydroFLEX hydrogen-powered train, which had been platformed side-by-side to showcase the potential of these low-carbon alternative technologies. December 1 2021, Paul Stephen, “Network News: Battery and hydrogen trains showcased to PM at COP26”, in RAIL, number 945, page 14
4. (politics, transitive) To include in a political platform
   Among them I scarcely can plot out one truth / Plain enough to be platformed by some voting sleuth / And paraded before the precinct polling-booth. 1955, Amy Lowell, Complete Poetical Works, page 408
5. (transitive) To publish or make visible; to provide a platform for (a topic etc.).
   We want to platform the larger, unspoken issue of menstrual health and hygiene of women at work, and how we as a society need to start taking cognizance of it and start adopting measures to help our women workforce navigate it with ease. May 28, 2020, Bhumika Popli, “Menstrual Hygiene Day: Changing mindsets with ‘period leave’”, in The New Indian Express
   If Buckley were still alive today, could a university get away with platforming him in a debate? 29 July 2020, Conor Friedersdorf, “Purity Politics Makes Nothing Happen”, in The Atlantic
6. (film, transitive) To open (a film) in a small number of theaters before a broader release in order to generate enthusiasm.
   But serious movies are not necessarily good movies. A studio that decides to platform a film had better be sure the film will get the necessary good reviews and audience approval. Otherwise, like United Artists' "A Small Circle of Friends," which was platformed around the same time as "The Elephant Man," the film will fail calamitously. September 2, 1981, Aljean Harmetz, “Comes Fall, a Chance for Serious Movies?”, in The New York Times, page C21
   Each of these films will be "platformed," the industry term to describe the strategy of opening a movie first in a limited number of theaters to give it an aura of exclusivity, then having its appeal build through word of mouth. November 25, 1993, Bernard Weinraub, “For Movie Industry, Thanksgiving Means A Box-Office Feast”, in The New York Times, page C11
7. (obsolete, transitive) To form a plan of; to model; to lay out.