ply
noun
- one turn taken by one of the players in a two-player sequential games
verb
- supply with
- work at some business/trade/skill
- typo for pry
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /plaɪ/
noun
Etymology: From apply; compare Middle English plīen, pli, plie, pleie (“to place (something) around, on, or over, to cover; to apply, use; to strive”), short for aplīen, applīen (“to combine, join; to attach; to assemble; to use, be of use; to allot; to apply; to inflict; to go; to ply, steer; to comply, submit”), from Old French applier, aplier, aploier (“to bend; to apply”), from Latin applicāre, present active infinitive of applicō (“to apply; to attach, join; to add”), from ad- (“to, towards”) + plicō (“to bend, fold, roll up”); see further at etymology 1.
- A bent; a direction.
verb
Etymology: From apply; compare Middle English plīen, pli, plie, pleie (“to place (something) around, on, or over, to cover; to apply, use; to strive”), short for aplīen, applīen (“to combine, join; to attach; to assemble; to use, be of use; to allot; to apply; to inflict; to go; to ply, steer; to comply, submit”), from Old French applier, aplier, aploier (“to bend; to apply”), from Latin applicāre, present active infinitive of applicō (“to apply; to attach, join; to add”), from ad- (“to, towards”) + plicō (“to bend, fold, roll up”); see further at etymology 1.
- To work at (something) diligently.
“He plied his trade as carpenter for forty-three years.”
“Ply you your work or elſe you are like to ſmart.”
- To wield or use (a tool, a weapon, etc.) steadily or vigorously.
“He plied his ax with bloody results.”
“Why how now Dame, whence growes this inſolence? / Bianca ſtand aſide, poore gyrle ſhe weepes: / Go ply thy Needle; meddle not with her.”
- To press upon; to urge persistently.
“to ply someone with questions or solicitations”
“He plies the Duke at morning and at night, / And doth impeach the freedome of the ſtate / If they deny him iuſtice.”
- To persist in offering something to, especially for the purpose of inducement or persuasion.
“to ply someone with drink”
“[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.”
- To travel over (a route) regularly.
“to ply the seven seas”
“The steamer plies between several ports on the coast.”
- 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.”
“He was afterwards reduced to great want, and forced to think of plying in the streets as a porter for his livelihood.”
- 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.
“Weighed anchor about five morn, and plied till about noon, and then anchored. This day, at morn, went about the general to council: the result was, the fleet should ply near, as with convenience, to the Texel, to prevent a conjunction of those ships there with Admiral [Maarten] Tromp; […]”