plea

v. i. To lean or incline upon anything. [ Obs. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. plee, plai, plait, fr. OF. plait, plaid, plet, LL. placitum judgment, decision, assembly, court, fr. L. placitum that which is pleasing, an opinion, sentiment, from placere to please. See Please, and cf. Placit, Plead. ] 1. (Law) That which is alleged by a party in support of his cause; in a stricter sense, an allegation of fact in a cause, as distinguished from a demurrer; in a still more limited sense, and in modern practice, the defendant's answer to the plaintiff's declaration and demand. That which the plaintiff alleges in his declaration is answered and repelled or justified by the defendant's plea. In chancery practice, a plea is a special answer showing or relying upon one or more things as a cause why the suit should be either dismissed, delayed, or barred. In criminal practice, the plea is the defendant's formal answer to the indictment or information presented against him. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Law) A cause in court; a lawsuit; as, the Court of Common Pleas. See under Common. [ 1913 Webster ]

The Supreme Judicial Court shall have cognizance of pleas real, personal, and mixed. Laws of Massachusetts. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. That which is alleged or pleaded, in defense or in justification; an excuse; an apology. “Necessity, the tyrant's plea.” Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

No plea must serve; 't is cruelty to spare. Denham. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. An urgent prayer or entreaty. [ 1913 Webster ]

Pleas of the crown (Eng. Law), criminal actions. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Pleached p. pr. & vb. n. Pleaching. ] [ Cf. OF. plaissier to bend, and also F. plisser to plait, L. plicare, plicitum, to fold, lay, or wind together. Cf. Plash to pleach. ] To unite by interweaving, as branches of trees; to plash; to interlock. “The pleached bower.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To discuss, defend, and attempt to maintain by arguments or reasons presented to a tribunal or person having uthority to determine; to argue at the bar; as, to plead a cause before a court or jury. [ 1913 Webster ]

Every man should plead his own matter. Sir T. More. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ In this sense, argue is more generally used by lawyers. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To allege or cite in a legal plea or defense, or for repelling a demand in law; to answer to an indictment; as, to plead usury; to plead statute of limitations; to plead not guilty. Kent. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To allege or adduce in proof, support, or vendication; to offer in excuse; as, the law of nations may be pleaded in favor of the rights of ambassadors. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

I will neither plead my age nor sickness, in excuse of faults. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Pleaded (colloq. Plead r Pled); p. pr. & vb. n. Pleading. ] [ OE. pleden, plaiden, OF. plaidier, F. plaider, fr. LL. placitare, fr. placitum. See Plea. ] 1. To argue in support of a claim, or in defense against the claim of another; to urge reasons for or against a thing; to attempt to persuade one by argument or supplication; to speak by way of persuasion; as, to plead for the life of a criminal; to plead with a judge or with a father. [ 1913 Webster ]

O that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleadeth for his neighbor! Job xvi. 21. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Law) To present an answer, by allegation of fact, to the declaration of a plaintiff; to deny the plaintiff's declaration and demand, or to allege facts which show that he ought not to recover in the suit; in a less strict sense, to make an allegation of fact in a cause; to carry on the allegations of the respective parties in a cause; to carry on a suit or plea. Blackstone. Burrill. Stephen. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To contend; to struggle. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Capable of being pleaded; capable of being alleged in proof, defense, or vindication; as, a right or privilege pleadable at law. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. plaideur. ] 1. One who pleads; one who argues for or against; an advotate. [ 1913 Webster ]

So fair a pleader any cause may gain. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Law) One who draws up or forms pleas; the draughtsman of pleas or pleadings in the widest sense; as, a special pleader. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act of advocating, defending, or supporting, a cause by arguments. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a pleading manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. pl. (Law) The mutual pleas and replies of the plaintiff and defendant, or written statements of the parties in support of their claims, proceeding from the declaration of the plaintiff, until issue is joined, and the question made to rest on some single point. Blackstone. [ 1913 Webster ]