ply
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /plaɪ/
rhymes: -aɪ
Forms: form: plies
form: plying
form: plied
form: plied
Etymology: From apply; compare Middle English plīen, pli, plie, pleie (“to place (something) around, on, or over, to cover; to apply, use; to strive”), short for aplīen, applīen (“to combine, join; to attach; to assemble; to use, be of use; to allot; to apply; to inflict; to go; to ply, steer; to comply, submit”), from Old French applier, aplier, aploier (“to bend; to apply”), from Latin applicāre, present active infinitive of applicō (“to apply; to attach, join; to add”), from ad- (“to, towards”) + plicō (“to bend, fold, roll up”); see further at etymology 1.
Senses: examples: text: He plied his trade as carpenter for forty-three years.
text: Ply you your work or elſe you are like to ſmart.
ref: 1595, G[eorge] P[eele], The Old Wiues Tale. […], printed at London: By Iohn Danter, and are to be sold by Raph Hancocke, and Iohn Hardie, →OCLC; reprinted as The Old Wives Tale, 1595 (The Malone Society Reprints; 7), Oxford: Printed for the Malone Society by Horace Hart M.A., at the Oxford University Press, 1908 (February 1909 reprint), →OCLC, line 720:
text: But English Courage growing as they fight, / In danger, noise, and slaughter takes delight, / Their bloody Task, unwearied, still they ply, / Only restrain’d by Death, or Victory: […]
ref: 1666, Edm[und] Waller, Instructions to a Painter, for the Drawing of the Posture & Progress of His Ma[jes]ᵗⁱᵉˢ Forces at Sea, under the Command of His Highness Royal. […], London: Printed for Henry Herringman, […], →OCLC, page 13:
text: Many who have "plied their book diligently," and know all about some one branch or another of accepted lore, come out of the study with an ancient and owl-like demeanour, and prove dry, stockish, and dyspeptic in all the better and brighter parts of life.
ref: 1877, Robert Louis Stevenson, “An Apology for Idlers”, in Virginibus Puerisque and Other Papers, London: C[harles] Kegan Paul & Co., […], published 1881, →OCLC, page 124:
glosses: To work at (something) diligently.
examples: text: He plied his ax with bloody results.
text: Why how now Dame, whence growes this inſolence? / Bianca ſtand aſide, poore gyrle ſhe weepes: / Go ply thy Needle; meddle not with her.
ref: c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 215, column 1:
text: He [a carpenter] feels an additional particle of new life coursing through his veins, and he plys the plane on the following day with additional energy to his own and to his master's satisfaction.
ref: 1854, “St. Valentine’s Day”, in The Favorite, volume I, London: Partridge, Oakey, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 114:
text: Drink had dispelled all common prudence, and chuckling at the idea of finding treasures unknown to their comrades, they plied the crowbar to the door, which was locked, but it soon yielded.
ref: 1863, [James Pascoe], “Death in the Vaults”, in The Brigantine. A Story of the Sea. In Two Volumes, volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 299:
text: [T]his abuse is as outrageous as are the acts of any Ku-Klux that ever plied the lash or sounded a whistle, […]
ref: 1871 February 24, B. F. Sawyer, “The Ku-Klux—The Atlanta Sun and Bullock’s Proclamation”, in Rome Courier; quoted in Testimony Taken by the Joint Select Committee to Inquire into the Condition of Affairs in the Late Insurrectionary States. Georgia, volume II, Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1 November 1871, published 1872, →OCLC, page 883:
glosses: To wield or use (a tool, a weapon, etc.) steadily or vigorously.
examples: text: to ply someone with questions or solicitations
text: He plies the Duke at morning and at night, / And doth impeach the freedome of the ſtate / If they deny him iuſtice.
ref: c. 1596–1598 (date written), W[illiam] Shakespeare, The Excellent History of the Merchant of Venice. […] (First Quarto), [London]: […] J[ames] Roberts [for Thomas Heyes], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:
glosses: To press upon; to urge persistently.
examples: text: to ply someone with drink
text: [T]he true Gameſters pretended to be ill, and refuſed their Glaſs, while they plied heartily two young Fellows, who were to be afterwards pillaged, as indeed they were without Mercy.
ref: 1749, Henry Fielding, “In which the Man of the Hill Continues His History”, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume III, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book VIII, page 264:
text: Esther began […] to cry. But when the fire had been lit specially to warm her chilled limbs and Adela had plied her with hot negus she began to feel rather a heroine.
ref: 1929, M. Barnard Eldershaw [pseudonym; Marjorie Barnard and Flora Eldershaw], chapter VII, in A House is Built, London: George G. Harrap and Co., →OCLC, section VI:
glosses: To persist in offering something to, especially for the purpose of inducement or persuasion.
examples: text: to ply the seven seas
text: The steamer plies between several ports on the coast.
text: [T]he ſaid corporation ſhall and may be authorized and required to licenſe all ſuch perſon or perſons as ſhall keep or drive any cars, drays or carts, plying for hire within the ſaid town of Wexford,
ref: 1794, “Chap. XXVI. An Act for the Improvement of the Town and Harbour of Wexford, and for Building a Bridge or Bridges over the River Slaney, at or near said Town.”, in Statutes Passed in the Parliaments Held in Ireland, volume X, Dublin: Printed by George Grierson, […], published 1799, →OCLC, section LXXIII, page 56:
text: An act of parliament, empowering the plaintiffs, a company, to ply on Sundays from certain points on the south bank of the Thames, but imposing no obligation to provide means of transport or to maintain their plying-places, does not confer an exclusive right against the rest of the world, such as the Court of Chancery will interfere to protect; […]
ref: 1866 March 21, “Letton v. Goodden”, in Montagu Chambers, Francis Towers Streeten, Frederick Hoare Colt, editors, The Law Journal Reports for the Year 1866: […], volumes XXXV (New Series; volume XLIV overall), part I (Chancery and Bankruptcy), London: Printed by James Holmes, […]; [p]ublished by Edward Bret Ince, […], →OCLC, headnote, page 427, column 1:
text: Steam navigation is in its infancy: four small 600-ton steamers ply between Hankow, Changsha, and Siangtan; and there are also perhaps a score of launches plying in and out of the province.
ref: 1907, Mark Tennien, edited by Marshall Broomhall, The Chinese Empire: A General & Missionary Survey, London: Morgan & Scott, page 169:
text: Before the bridging of the Forth, the train ferry which plied across the estuary from Granton to Burntisland was inconvenient, slow, and uncomfortable, and although an alternative route was available, it meant a detour by rail of 70 miles via Stirling [...].
ref: 1941 January, the late John Phillimore, “The Forth Bridge 1890-1940”, in Railway Magazine, page 5:
topics: transport
glosses: To travel over (a route) regularly.
examples: text: […] Ere halfe theſe Authors be read, which will ſoon be with plying hard, and dayly, they cannot chooſe but be maſters of any ordinary proſe.
ref: [1644], [John Milton], Of Education. To Master Samuel Hartlib, [London: […] Thomas Underhill and/or Thomas Johnson], →OCLC, page 4:
text: He was afterwards reduced to great want, and forced to think of plying in the streets as a porter for his livelihood.
ref: 1711 June 29 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “MONDAY, June 18, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 94; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume II, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 23:
glosses: To work diligently.
examples: text: Weighed anchor about five morn, and plied till about noon, and then anchored. This day, at morn, went about the general to council: the result was, the fleet should ply near, as with convenience, to the Texel, to prevent a conjunction of those ships there with Admiral [Maarten] Tromp; […]
ref: 1653 July 21, William Penn, Granville Penn, “A Journal on the Vanguard”, in Memorial of the Professional Life and Times of Sir William Penn, Knt. Admiral and General of the Fleet, during the Interregnum; Admiral and Commissioner of the Admiralty and Navy, after the Restoration. From 1644 to 1670. … In Two Volumes, volume I, London: James Duncan, […], published 1833, →OCLC, page 535:
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: To manoeuvre a sailing vessel so that the direction of the wind changes from one side of the vessel to the other; to work to windward, to beat, to tack.