Jackplanes

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Large woodworking hand tools with a flat sole, used to quickly flatten and shape rough pieces of timber
2. Sturdy bench planes that carpenters use to remove material quickly when roughing out boards
3. Heavy hand planes for coarse woodworking, typically used before finer smoothing tools are applied

Etymology: "Jackplanes" is the plural of "jackplane," a noun for a long, heavy bench plane used by woodworkers to flatten and smooth rough boards. Its name is a compound of "jack," a term in carpentry for a general-purpose or everyday tool, and "plane," the cutting tool itself, which descends from Old French "plane" and Latin "planus," meaning flat. The plural simply follows the usual English pattern of adding an "s" to a countable noun, so one jackplane becomes several jackplanes when a workshop holds more than one.