pluvious (plovius)

[ IMG:content-0489.jpg:[graphic] IMG:content-0490.png:[blocks in formation] ply (pli), v .; pret. and pp. plied , ppr. plying . [ plyen , plien , bend, mold (as wax), wax), plier , pleier , ploier , fold, bend, plait, ply, F. plier, also ployer ,, fold, bend, etc., pleiar , plegar = Sp. plegar = Pg. pregar = It. piegare , fold, bend, L. plicare end, plicare (pp. plicatus and plicitus ), fold, lay or wind wind together, toge double up, = Gr. πλέκειν , twine, twist, weave, tie, infold, etc.; akin to L. to L. plectere , weave, whence ult. plait , etc.: see plait . From From L. plicare are ult. E. ply , apply , comply , y, imply , reply , etc., also ploy , deploy , en employ , etc., display , splay , etc., plicate , reply , etet complicate , explicate , ate , implicate , implicate , supplicate , suppl etc., explicit, implicit , etc., complex , complice , aс- complice , etc., si simple , duplex , double , triple , quad- ruple , etc., multiple , etc., etc., supple , supple , etc., etc., pliable , pli pliant , etc. etc.; from the related L. plectere , weave, are ult. E. p plait, pleat, plat4, plight, pleach, plash2, plexus , complexion , perplex, etc.] I. trans. 11. To bend; mold; shape. Womman of man ye scoles half a clerk is; But certeynly a yonge thyng may men gye, Right as men may warm wex with handes plye . Chaucer , Merchant's Tale, 1. 186. IMG:content-0491.jpg:[graphic][merged small] Then all his letters will be such ecstasies, such vows and promises, which you must answer short and simply, yet still ply out of them your advantages. Dryden , Sir Martin Mar-all, i. 2. 3. To use or employ diligently; keep on using with diligence and persistence; apply one's self steadily to; keep busy with; toil at. Who shall bear your part, And be in Padua here Vincentio's son, Keep house and ply his book, welcome his friends, Visit his countrymen and banquet them? Shak., T. of the S., i. 1. 201. Lord George Gordon the left wing guided, Who well the sword could ply . Battle of Alford (Child's Ballads, VII. 239). The bold swain, who plies his oar, May lightly row his bark to shore. Scott, Rokeby, ii. 31. So lustily did Van Poffenburgh ply the bottle that in le than short hours he made himself and his whole chieftain, dead drunk. Irving , Knickerbocker, p. 331. snow, etc., at a particular place; a rain-gage. garrison, who all sedulously emulated the deeds of their See cut in next column. IMG:content-0492.png:[blocks in formation] Gambling is not permitted on the grounds at Epsom, but there were many gamblers on the grounds, and they sought every occasion to ply their vocation. T. C. Crawford, English Life, p. 19. 5. To attack or a ail briskly, repeatedly, or persistently. They so warmly plied our divided fleets that whilst in conflict the merchants sail'd away, and got safe into Holland. Evelyn , Diary, March 12, 1672. The hero stands above, and from afar Plies him with darts and stones, and distant war. Dryden, Æneid, viii. Again he [Apollo] took The harne ed steeds, that still with horror shook, And plies 'em with a lash, and whips 'em on, And, as he whips, upbraids them with his son. Add is on , tr. of Ovid's Meta morph., ii. 6. To addre with importunity or persistent solicitation; urge, or keep on urging or soliciting, as for a favor. He plies the duke at morning and at night. Shak ., M. of V., iii. 2. 279. A courtier would not ply it so for a place. B. Jonson , Volpone, iii. 4. I have been always plying you to walk and read. Swift , Journal to Stella, xxxiv. Sunder land was plied at once with promises and men- Macaulay , Hist. Eng., vi. aces. 7. To offer with persistency or frequency; pre upon for acceptance; continue to present or supply: as, to ply one with drink, or with flattery. If you perceive that the untravelled company about you take this down well, ply them with more such stuff. Dekker, Gull's Hornbook, p. 113. With cup full ever plied, And hearts full never dried. Chapman , The Blind Beggar of Alexandria (song). They adore him, they ply him with flowers, and hymns, and incense, and flattery. Thackeray . IMG:content-0493.png:[blocks in formation] That day we plyed downe as farre as our Ladie of Hol- land, and there came to an anker. Hakluyt's Voyages , I. 310. The Currents at Cape La Vela do seldom shift, therefore Ships that ply to Wind-ward to get about it do not ply near the shore, but stand off to Sea. Dampier , Voyages, II. iii. 101. She was flying dead into the east, and every minute her keel pa ed over as many fathoms of sea as would take her hours of plying to recover. W. C. Ru ell , Death Ship, xli. 6. To offer one's services for trips or jobs, as boatmen, hackmen, carriers, etc. He was forced to ply in the streets, as a porter, for his livelihood. There is at Edinburgh a society or corporation of errand boys called Cawdies, who ply in the streets at night with paper lanterns, and are very serviceable in carrying me ages. Smollett, Humphrey Clinker (J. Melford to Sir Watkin [Phillips). [It] will be readily pointed out by any one of the fifty in tell i gent fly-drivers who ply upon the pier. Barham , In golds by Legends, II. 139. ply (pli), n. [ I found myself at last on the diver's platform, twenty pounds of lead upon each foot, and my whole person swol len with ply and ply of woollen underclothing. R. L. Stevens on , Education of an Engineer. 2. Bent; turn; direction; bias. Custom is most perfect when it beginneth in young years; late learners cannot so well take up the ply. Bacon , Custom and Education (ed. 1887). He bent all the subordinate branches of their government to the ply of his own favourite pa ion. Goldsmith, Seven Years' War, v. sent a tions had begun gradually to displace in ticarete Under Elizabeth the growing taste for theatrical repre 8t. To apply; devote with persistency or per of animals, and especially of bulls and bears), and to give severance. Ne ever cast his mind to covet prayse, Or ply himselfe to any honest trade. 9t. To exert; acquit. Spenser, F. Q., III. vii. 12. a new ply and tone to the manners of the rich. Lecky, Eng. in 18th Cent., iv. He [Hamilton] accepted the constitution as it was, and did his best to give it the ply which he desired by practical interpretation. Nineteenth Century, XXIII. 105. Plyctolophine, Plyctolophus. See Plictolo But it is worthy of memorie to see how the women of ye towne did plie themselues with their weapons, making phus, etc. a great ma acre vpon our men. Webbe, Travels (ed. Arber), p. 23. II, in trans . 11. To bend; yield; incline. The gold of hem hath now so badde alayes With bras that, though the coyne be fair at ye, It wolde rather breste atwo than plye . Chaucer , Clerk's Tale, 1. 1113. To plie this waie or that waie to good or to bad, ye shall haue as ye vse a child in his youth. Ascham , The Scholemaster, p. 46. As like a lion he could pace with pride, Ply like a plant, and like a river slide. Sir J. Davies , Dancing. 2. To keep at work or in action; busy one's self; work steadily; be employed. All D'Aulnay's company plied for their fortifying with palisadoes, and the friars as busy as any. Winthrop, Hist. New England, II. 162. Ere half these authors be read (which will soon be with plying hard and daily), they cannot choose but be masters of any ordinary prose. Milton . In vain their airy Pinions ply . Congreve , Pindaric Odes, ii. And around the bows and along the side The heavy hammers and mallets plied . plyer, n. See plier . plyght1t, n. and v. plight , plight2 , etc. plyght2t, plyghtet. Middle English forms of the preterit and past participle of pluck1 . Plymouth Brethren. See brother . A Middle English form of Plymouth cloakt. A staff; a cudgel. [Slang.] [That is, a cane, a staff; whereof this is the occasion. Many a man of good extraction, coming home from far voyages, may chance to land here, and, being out of sorts, is unable for the present time and place to recruit himself with clothes. Here (if not friendly provided) they make the next wood their draper's shop, where a staff cut out serves them for a covering. For we use, when we walk in cuerpo, to carry a staff in our hands, but none when in a cloak. Ray, Proverbs (1742), p. 238.] Reserving still the embleme of a souldier (his sword) and a Plimouth cloake , otherwise called a bat to one. Lenten's Characterism i , Char. 30. ( Nares .) Shall I walk in a Plymouth cloak (that 's to say) like a rogue, in my hose and doublet, and a crab-tree cudgel in my hand? Dekker , Honest Whore, ii. Plymouth ism (plimʼuth-izm), n . [ Plymouth + -ism .] The doctrines of the Plymouth Brethren. See Plymouth Brethren , under brother . Long fellow , Building of the Ship. Plymouth ist (plim'uth-ist), n. [ Plymouth 3. To proceed in haste; sally forth. Thither he plies , Undaunted to meet there whatever power Or spirit of the nethermost aby Might in that noise reside. Milton , P. L., ii. 954. Adriaen Block plied forth to explore the vicinity. Bancroft, Hist. U. S., II. 33. 4. To go back and forth or backward and forward over the same course; especially, to run or sail regularly along the same course, or between two fixed places or ports; make more or le regular trips: as, the boats that ply on the Hudson; the steamers that ply between New York and Fall River; the stage plied between Concord and Boston: said both of the ve els or vehicles that make the trips and of those who sail or run them. And then they ply from th' eaues vnto the ground, With mud-mixt Reed to wall their mansion round. Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii., The Handy-Crafts. + -ist.] An adherent of Plymouth ism; one of the Plymouth Brethren; a Plymouthite. There are therefore at least five official divisions or sects of Plymouthists . Encyc. Brit ., XIX. 239.