English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpleɪsə(ɹ)/
• Rhymes: -eɪsə(ɹ)

Noun

placer ‎(plural placers)

1. One who places or arranges something.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Spenser to this entry?)

2. (slang) One who deals in stolen goods; a fence.^[1]

Synonyms

• (one who places):
• (dealer in stolen goods): fence, receiver

Etymology 2

From place +‎ -er ‎(“suffix apparently denoting association”).

Noun

placer ‎(plural placers)

1. (ethology, sheep, Australia, New Zealand) A lamb whose mother has died and which has transferred its attachment to an object, such as a bush or rock, in the locality.
   • 1951, Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation, Problems of Infancy and Childhood, Volume 4, page 101,

     This is a “placer” sheep, as it is called. The prerequisites to this condition are that the young sheep must be still nursing, but must have begun to nibble grass. It must be the young of a mother that has been somewhat isolated, away from the corral and away from the herd, by herself out on the prairie. Now, when the mother dies, the lamb remains close to the mother′s body […] .

   • 1971, American Society of Animal Science. Journal of Animal Science, Volume 32, Pages 601-1298, page 1281,

     In Australia “placer” lambs are also destroyed, for these too are of little use; they will return constantly to one place, not staying with the flock.

See also

• cade, poddy
• imprinting

Etymology 3

From American Spanish placer, from earlier placel, apparently from obsolete Portuguese placel.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈplæsə(ɹ)/, /ˈpleɪsə(ɹ)/
• Rhymes: -æsə(ɹ)
• Rhymes: -eɪsə(ɹ)

Adjective

placer ‎(not comparable)

1. (mining) alluvial; occurring in a deposit of sand or earth on a river-bed or bank, particularly with reference to precious metals such as gold or silver
   • 1995, Paul T. Craddock, Early Metal Mining and Production, page 110:

     Placer gold comes from the weathering of the primary veins releasing the gold to be transported by water action and concentrated in gravel or sand beds.

   • 2002, Philip Ball, The Elements: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford 2004, page 46:

     Since time immemorial, people found that they could extract the gold from placer deposits by sifting the fine-grained material through a mesh: the technique of panning.

   • 2008, Tanyo Ravicz, Of Knives and Men, Alaskans, page 77,

     He still ran a placer mine in the Interior.

References

1. ↑ 2011, Jonathon Green, Crooked Talk: Five Hundred Years of the Language of Crime, page 104— The 20th-century buyer is self-explanatory, while the placer is a middle-man who places stolen goods with a purchaser.

Anagrams

• carpel
• parcel

French

Etymology

From place.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /plase/

Verb

placer

1. to place (to put in a specific location)
2. to seat (To put an object into a place where it will rest)
3. (reflexive) to place (to earn a given spot in a competition)

Conjugation

This verb is part of a group of -er verbs for which ‘c’ is softened to a ‘ç’ before the vowels ‘a’ and ‘o’.

Related terms

Descendants

• German: platzieren
• Romanian: plasa

Anagrams

• claper

Interlingua

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /plaˈtser/

Noun

placer ‎(uncountable)

1. pleasure

Verb

placer

1. to please

Conjugation

Latin

Verb

plācer

1. first-person singular present passive subjunctive of plācō

Spanish

Pronunciation

• (Castilian) IPA^(key): /plaˈθeɾ/
• (Latin America) IPA^(key): /plaˈseɾ/

Etymology 1

From Latin placēre, present active infinitive of placeō.

Verb

placer ‎(first-person singular present plazco, first-person singular preterite plací, past participle placido)

1. (literary) to please (somebody)

Conjugation

Noun

placer m ‎(plural placeres)

1. pleasure; something done to please

Related terms

• complacer

Etymology 2

Related to placel ‘sandbank’, from plaza ‘place’.

Noun

placer m ‎(plural placeres)

1. (geology, mining) placer
2. (nautical) sandbank