plight1 (plit)

[ He [hath] mi lond with mikel onrith, With michel wrong, with mikel plith , For I ne misdede him nevere nouth, And havede me to sorwe brouth. Havelok (1370). ( Hall i well.) IMG:content-0433.png:[blocks in formation] In plightt, under promise or pledge. Thus they justtyd tylle hyt was nyght, Then they departyd in plyght , They had nede to reste. MS . Cantab . Ff. ii. 38, f. 76. ( Hall i well .) plight1 (plit), v. t. [ Ye woot right wel what ye bihighten me, And in myn hand your trout he plighten ye To love me best. Chaucer , Franklin's Tale, L. 600. Pylgrimis and palmers ply zhten hem to-gederes, To sec he seint Iame and seyntys of rome. Piers Plowman (C), i. 47. IMG:content-0434.png:[blocks in formation] Dearer is love then life, and fame then gold; But dearer then them both your faith once plighted hold. Spenser , F. Q., V. xi. 63. By this fair fount hath many a shepherd sworn, And given away his freedom, many a troth Been plight . Fletcher, Faithful Shepherde , i. 2. Have we not plighted each our holy oath, That one should be the common good of both? Dryden, Pal. and Arc., i. 291. =Syn. Pledge, Plight. Pledge is applied to property as well as to word, faith, truth, honor, etc. Plight is now chiefly poetic or rhetorical; to plight honor is, as it were, to deposit it in pledge for the performance of an act not often for the truth of a statement to be forfeited if the act is not performed.