Result from Foreign Dictionaries (7 entries found)

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]: Plain \Plain\, v. t. To lament; to mourn over; as, to plain a loss. [Archaic & Poetic] --Sir J. Harrington. [1913 Webster] From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]: Plain \Plain\, a. [Compar. {Plainer}; superl. {Plainest}.] [F., level, flat, fr. L. planus, perhaps akin to E. floor. Cf. {Llano}, {Piano}, {Plan}, {Plane} level, a level surface.] 1. Without elevations or depressions; flat; level; smooth; even. See {Plane}. [1913 Webster] The crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. --Isa. xl. 4. [1913 Webster] 2. Open; clear; unencumbered; equal; fair. [1913 Webster] Our troops beat an army in plain fight. --Felton. [1913 Webster] 3. Not intricate or difficult; evident; manifest; obvious; clear; unmistakable. "'T is a plain case." --Shak. [1913 Webster] 4. (a) Void of extraneous beauty or ornament; without conspicious embellishment; not rich; simple. (b) Not highly cultivated; unsophisticated; free from show or pretension; simple; natural; homely; common. "Plain yet pious Christians." --Hammond. "The plain people." --A. Lincoln. (c) Free from affectation or disguise; candid; sincere; artless; honest; frank. "An honest mind, and plain." --Shak. (d) Not luxurious; not highly seasoned; simple; as, plain food. (e) Without beauty; not handsome; homely; as, a plain woman. (f) Not variegated, dyed, or figured; as, plain muslin. (g) Not much varied by modulations; as, a plain tune. [1913 Webster] {Plain battle}, open battle; pitched battle. [Obs.] --Chaucer. {Plain chant} (Mus.) Same as {Plain song}, below. {Plain chart} (Naut.), a chart laid down on Mercator's projection. {Plain dealer}. (a) One who practices plain dealing. (b) A simpleton. [Obs.] --Shak. {Plain dealing}. See under {Dealing}. {Plain molding} (Join.), molding of which the surfaces are plain figures. {Plain sewing}, sewing of seams by simple and common stitches, in distinct from fancy work, embroidery, etc.; -- distinguished also from designing and fitting garments. {Plain song}. (a) The Gregorian chant, or {canto fermo}; the prescribed melody of the Roman Catholic service, sung in unison, in tones of equal length, and rarely extending beyond the compass of an octave. (b) A simple melody. {Plain speaking}, plainness or bluntness of speech. [1913 Webster] Syn: Level; flat; smooth; open; artless; unaffected; undisguised; frank; sincere; honest; candid; ingenuous; unembellished; downright; blunt; clear; simple; distinct; manifest; obvious; apparent. See {Manifest}. [1913 Webster] From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]: Plain \Plain\, v. i. [OE. playne, pleyne, fr. F. plaindre. See {Plaint}.] To lament; to bewail; to complain. [Archaic & Poetic] --Milton. [1913 Webster] We with piteous heart unto you pleyne. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster] From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]: Plain \Plain\, adv. In a plain manner; plainly. "To speak short and pleyn." --Chaucer. "To tell you plain." --Shak. [1913 Webster] From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]: Plain \Plain\, n. [Cf. OF. plaigne, F. plaine. See {Plain}, a.] 1. Level land; usually, an open field or a broad stretch of land with an even surface, or a surface little varied by inequalities; as, the plain of Jordan; the American plains, or prairies. [1913 Webster] Descending fro the mountain into playn. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster] Him the Ammonite Worshiped in Rabba and her watery plain. --Milton. [1913 Webster] 2. A field of battle. [Obs.] --Arbuthnot. [1913 Webster] Lead forth my soldiers to the plain. --Shak. [1913 Webster] From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]: Plain \Plain\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Plained}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Plaining}.] [Cf. {Plane}, v.] 1. To plane or level; to make plain or even on the surface. [R.] [1913 Webster] We would rake Europe rather, plain the East. --Wither. [1913 Webster] 2. To make plain or manifest; to explain. [1913 Webster] What's dumb in show, I'll plain in speech. --Shak. [1913 Webster] From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]: plain adv 1: unmistakably (`plain' is often used informally for `plainly'); "the answer is obviously wrong"; "she was in bed and evidently in great pain"; "he was manifestly too important to leave off the guest list"; "it is all patently nonsense"; "she has apparently been living here for some time"; "I thought he owned the property, but apparently not"; "You are plainly wrong"; "he is plain stubborn" [syn: {obviously}, {evidently}, {manifestly}, {patently}, {apparently}, {plainly}, {plain}] adj 1: clearly revealed to the mind or the senses or judgment; "the effects of the drought are apparent to anyone who sees the parched fields"; "evident hostility"; "manifest disapproval"; "patent advantages"; "made his meaning plain"; "it is plain that he is no reactionary"; "in plain view" [syn: {apparent}, {evident}, {manifest}, {patent}, {plain}, {unmistakable}] 2: not elaborate or elaborated; simple; "plain food"; "stuck to the plain facts"; "a plain blue suit"; "a plain rectangular brick building" [ant: {fancy}] 3: lacking patterns especially in color [syn: {plain}, {unpatterned}] [ant: {patterned}] 4: not mixed with extraneous elements; "plain water"; "sheer wine"; "not an unmixed blessing" [syn: {plain}, {sheer}, {unmingled}, {unmixed}] 5: free from any effort to soften to disguise; "the plain and unvarnished truth"; "the unvarnished candor of old people and children" [syn: {plain}, {unvarnished}] 6: lacking embellishment or ornamentation; "a plain hair style"; "unembellished white walls"; "functional architecture featuring stark unornamented concrete" [syn: {plain}, {bare}, {spare}, {unembellished}, {unornamented}] 7: lacking in physical beauty or proportion; "a homely child"; "several of the buildings were downright homely"; "a plain girl with a freckled face" [syn: {homely}, {plain}] n 1: extensive tract of level open land; "they emerged from the woods onto a vast open plain"; "he longed for the fields of his youth" [syn: {plain}, {field}, {champaign}] 2: a basic knitting stitch [syn: {knit}, {knit stitch}, {plain}, {plain stitch}] v 1: express complaints, discontent, displeasure, or unhappiness; "My mother complains all day"; "She has a lot to kick about" [syn: {complain}, {kick}, {plain}, {sound off}, {quetch}, {kvetch}] [ant: {cheer}, {cheer up}, {chirk up}]