two-forty on a plank road

English

(Canada, US, idiomatic, obsolete) A very fast speed.
- 1852, G. Henry Howard Paul, Dashes of American humour, page 206:
  The passion of young New York is for horses — fast horses — two-forty on a plank road.
- 1862, Frank Moore, The Rebellion Record, a Diary of American Events, page 474:
  […] 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.
(Canada, US, slang, obsolete, by extension) The quality of being "fast", i.e. immoral in one's habits.
- 1867, The Broadway Annual, page 596:
  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.”

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