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plea

noun
/pliː/

Etymology

From Middle English ple, from Old French plait, plaid, from Medieval Latin placitum (“a decree, sentence, suit, plea, etc., Latin an opinion, determination, prescription, order; literally, that which is pleasing, pleasure”), neuter of placitus, past participle of placere (“to please”). Cognate with Spanish pleito (“lawsuit, suit”). Doublet of placit. See also please, pleasure.

  1. derived from placitum
  2. derived from plait
  3. inherited from ple

Definitions

  1. An appeal, petition, urgent prayer or entreaty.

    • Even if only one person answers my plea for someone to correspond with it will be a blessing.
    • a plea for mercy
    • make a plea

  2. An excuse

    An excuse; an apology.

    • Necessity, the tyrant’s plea.
    • No Plea must serve; ’tis cruelty to spare.

  3. That which is alleged or pleaded, in defense or in justification.

  4. ›+ 5 more definitions

    1. That which is alleged by a party in support of his cause.

    2. An allegation of fact in a cause, as distinguished from a demurrer.

    3. The defendant’s answer to the plaintiff’s declaration and demand.

    4. A cause in court

      A cause in court; a lawsuit; as, the Court of Common Pleas.

      • they or any three of them shall be a Court and have cognizance of pleas real, personal, and mixed.

    5. To plead

      To plead; to argue.

      • With my riches, my unhappiness was increased tenfold; and here, with another great acquisition of property, for which I had pleaed, and which I had gained in a dream, my miseries and difficulties were increasing.

The neighborhood

Derived

Alford plea, cop a plea, counterplea, declinatory plea, interplea, Kennedy plea, plea-bargain, plea bargain, plea bargaining, plea deal, plea in abatement, plea of the crown, pleas of the crown, West plea

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at plea. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01plea02entreaty03petition04soliciting05solicit06persuade07plead

A definitional loop anchored at plea. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

7 hops · closes at plea

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA