Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Ply?

\Ply\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Plied}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Plying}.] [OE. plien, F. plier to fold, to bend, fr. L. plicare; akin to Gr. ?, G. flechten. Cf. {Apply}, {Complex}, {Display}, {Duplicity}, {Employ}, {Exploit}, {Implicate}, {Plait}, {Pliant}, {Flax}.] 1. To bend. [Obs.] As men may warm wax with handes plie. --Chaucer. 2. To lay on closely, or in folds; to work upon steadily, or with repeated acts; to press upon; to urge importunately; as, to ply one with questions, with solicitations, or with drink. And plies him with redoubled strokes --Dryden. He plies the duke at morning and at night. --Shak. 3. To employ diligently; to use steadily. Go ply thy needle; meddle not. --Shak. 4. To practice or perform with diligence; to work at. Their bloody task, unwearied, still they ply. --Waller.
\Ply\, v. i. 1. To bend; to yield. [Obs.] It would rather burst atwo than plye. --Chaucer. The willow plied, and gave way to the gust. --L'Estrange. 2. To act, go, or work diligently and steadily; especially, to do something by repeated actions; to go back and forth; as, a steamer plies between certain ports. Ere half these authors be read (which will soon be with plying hard and daily). --Milton. He was forced to ply in the streets as a porter. --Addison. The heavy hammers and mallets plied. --Longfellow. 3. (Naut.) To work to windward; to beat.
\Ply\, n. [Cf. F. pli, fr. plier. See {Ply}, v.] 1. A fold; a plait; a turn or twist, as of a cord. --Arbuthnot. 2. Bent; turn; direction; bias. The late learners can not so well take the ply. --Bacon. Boswell, and others of Goldsmith's contemporaries, . . . did not understand the secret plies of his character. --W. Irving. The czar's mind had taken a strange ply, which it retained to the last. --Macaulay. Note: Ply is used in composition to designate folds, or the number of webs interwoven; as, a three-ply carpet.