Sekirov Dictionary

ply

/plaɪ/

verb 9
noun 6
forms 6

verb9

•
To work at (something) diligently.
- He plied his trade as carpenter for forty-three years.
•
To press upon; to urge persistently.
- to ply someone with questions or solicitations
•
To persist in offering something to, especially for the purpose of inducement or persuasion.
- [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. — 1749
•
To travel over (a route) regularly.
- The steamer plies between several ports on the coast.
•
To wield or use (a tool, a weapon, etc.) steadily or vigorously.
- He plied his ax with bloody results.
To bend, to flex; to be bent by something, to give way or yield (to a force, etc.).
•
(no longer used) To work diligently.
- […] 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. — 1644
(no longer used) To bend; to fold; to mould; (figuratively) to adapt, to modify; to change (a person's) mind, to cause (a person) to submit.
(no longer used) 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.

noun6

•
A layer of material.
- It is possible to have a very well load balanced partition but with such a high ply that its slowest piece is slower than a not-so-well balanced partition with less ply. — 1999
A strand that, twisted together with other strands, makes up rope or yarn.
•
(informal) Clipping of plywood.
- The compartment ceiling panels are of plastic material backed with ply or hardboard panels. — 1951
•
In two-player sequential games, a "half-turn" or a move made by one of the players.
- He proposed to build Deep Purple, a super-computer capable of 24-ply look-ahead for chess.
•
(Scotland) A condition, a state.
- You may be sure, in the ply I was now taking, I had no objection to the proposal, and was rather a tiptoe for its accomplishment. — 1749
A bent; a direction.

forms

plied · plying · plies · plieth · pliest · plys

This dictionary works without the internet: on your phone · in Chrome