1769, "a firing of projectiles to make them skip or rebound along a flat surface," from ricochet (v.) or French ricochet "the skipping of a shot or flat stone on water," but in earliest French use (15c.) "a verbal to-and-fro," and only in the phrase fable du ricochet, an entertainment in which the teller of a tale skillfully evades questions, and chanson du ricochet, a kind of repetitious song. The word is of obscure and uncertain origin.
"Australian duck-mole," 1799, from Modern Latin, from Greek platypous, literally "flat-footed," from platys "broad, flat" (from PIE root *plat- "to spread") + pous "foot," from PIE root *ped- "foot." Originally the genus name, but entomologists had given it earlier to a genus of beetles; it was retained for the species after the genus name was changed in 1800 to Ornithorhyncus. OED has Australian platypussary (1945) "enclosure in which platypuses are kept."
"game regularly played with 28 flat, oblong pieces, black on one side, spotted black and white on the other," c. 1800; see domino.
"open space, level or sloping, especially in front of a fortification," 1590s, from French esplanade (15c.), from Spanish esplanada "large level area," noun use of fem. past participle of esplanar "make level," from Latin explanare "make level, flatten," from ex "out" (see ex-) + planus "flat" (from PIE root *pele- (2) "flat; to spread"). Or perhaps the French word is from or influenced by Italian spianata, from spianare.
"small, flat-bottomed boat," especially one sent out from a larger vessel to catch fish, 1709, American English, perhaps from a West Indian or Central American Indian language.
1767, from Italian, from piano e forte "soft and loud," in full, gravicembalo col piano e forte "harpsichord with soft and loud" (c. 1710), said to have been so named by inventor Bartolomeo Cristofori (1655-1731) of Padua because the ability via dampers to vary the tone is one of the main changes from the harpsichord. Italian piano (adj.) ultimately is from Latin planus "flat, smooth, even," later "soft" (from PIE root *pele- (2) "flat; to spread"). Also fortepiano.
