plea
verb
- state guilt or innocence, give a plea in court, misspelling of plead?, give an answer, reply to charges, usually in court
noun
- answer to a claim made by someone in a criminal case under common law using the adversarial system
- the act of begging
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /pliː/
noun
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.
- 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”
- An excuse; an apology.
“Necessity, the tyrant’s plea.”
“No Plea must serve; ’tis cruelty to spare.”
- That which is alleged or pleaded, in defense or in justification.
- That which is alleged by a party in support of his cause.
- An allegation of fact in a cause, as distinguished from a demurrer.
- The defendant’s answer to the plaintiff’s declaration and demand.
- 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.”
verb
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.
- 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.”