v. t.
As men may warm wax with handes plie. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]
And plies him with redoubled strokes Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]
He plies the duke at morning and at night. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]
Go ply thy needle; meddle not. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]
Their bloody task, unwearied, still they ply. Waller. [ 1913 Webster ]
v. i.
It would rather burst atwo than plye. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]
The willow plied, and gave way to the gust. L'Estrange. [ 1913 Webster ]
Ere half these authors be read (which will soon be with plying hard and daily). Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]
He was forced to ply in the streets as a porter. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]
The heavy hammers and mallets plied. Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]
n. [ Cf. F. pli, fr. plier. See Ply, v. ]
The late learners can not so well take the ply. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]
Boswell, and others of Goldsmith's contemporaries, . . . did not understand the secret plies of his character. W. Irving. [ 1913 Webster ]
The czar's mind had taken a strange ply, which it retained to the last. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]
☞ Ply is used in composition to designate folds, or the number of webs interwoven; as, a three-ply carpet. [ 1913 Webster ]
n. One who, or that which, plies; specifically:
v. & n. See Plight. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]
The members of a religious sect which first appeared at Plymouth, England, about 1830. They protest against sectarianism, and reject all official ministry or clergy. Also called