Pleasance noun [ French plaisance . See Please .]
1. Pleasure; merriment; gayety; delight; kindness. [ Archaic] Shak. "Full great pleasance ." Chaucer. "A realm of pleasance ." Tennyson.

2. A secluded part of a garden. [ Archaic]

The pleasances of old Elizabethan houses.

Ruskin.

Pleasant adjective [ French plaisant . See Please .]
1. Pleasing; grateful to the mind or to the senses; agreeable; as, a pleasant journey; pleasant weather.

Behold, how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!

Ps. cxxxiii. 1.

2. Cheerful; enlivening; gay; sprightly; humorous; sportive; as, pleasant company; a pleasant fellow.

From grave to light, from pleasant to serve.

Dryden.

Syn. -- Pleasing; gratifying; agreeable; cheerful; good- humored; enlivening; gay; lively; merry; sportive; humorous; jocose; amusing; witty. -- Pleasant , Pleasing , Agreeable . Agreeable is applied to that which agrees with, or is in harmony with, one's tastes, character, etc. Pleasant and pleasing denote a stronger degree of the agreeable. Pleasant refers rather to the state or condition; pleasing , to the act or effect. Where they are applied to the same object, pleasing is more energetic than pleasant ; as, she is always pleasant and always pleasing . The distinction, however, is not radical and not rightly observed.

Pleasant noun A wit; a humorist; a buffoon. [ Obsolete]

Pleasant-tongued adjective Of pleasing speech.

Pleasantly adverb In a pleasant manner.

Pleasantness noun The state or quality of being pleasant.

Pleasantry noun ; plural Pleasantries . [ French plaisanterie . See Pleasant .] That which denotes or promotes pleasure or good humor; cheerfulness; gayety; merriment; especially, an agreeable playfulness in conversation; a jocose or humorous remark; badinage.

The grave abound in pleasantries , the dull in repartees and points of wit.

Addison.

The keen observation and ironical pleasantry of a finished man of the world.

Macaulay.

Please transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Pleased ; present participle & verbal noun Pleasing .] [ Middle English plesen , Old French plaisir , from Latin placere , akin to placare to reconcile. Confer Complacent , Placable , Placid , Plea , Plead , Pleasure .]
1. To give pleasure to; to excite agreeable sensations or emotions in; to make glad; to gratify; to content; to satisfy.

I pray to God that it may plesen you.

Chaucer.

What next I bring shall please thee, be assured.

Milton.

2. To have or take pleasure in; hence, to choose; to wish; to desire; to will.

Whatsoever the Lord pleased , that did he.

Ps. cxxxv. 6.

A man doing as he wills, and doing as he pleases , are the same things in common speech.

J. Edwards.

3. To be the will or pleasure of; to seem good to; -- used impersonally. "It pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell." Col. i. 19.

To-morrow, may it please you.

Shak.

To be pleased in or with , to have complacency in; to take pleasure in. -- To be pleased to do a thing , to take pleasure in doing it; to have the will to do it; to think proper to do it. Dryden.

Please intransitive verb
1. To afford or impart pleasure; to excite agreeable emotions.

What pleasing scemed, for her now pleases more.

Milton.

For we that live to please , must please to live.

Johnson.

2. To have pleasure; to be willing, as a matter of affording pleasure or showing favor; to vouchsafe; to consent.

Heavenly stranger, please to taste
These bounties.

Milton.

That he would please 8give me my liberty.

Swift.

Pleased adjective Experiencing pleasure. -- Pleas"ed*ly adverb -- Pleas"ed*ness , noun

Pleaseman noun An officious person who courts favor servilely; a pickthank. [ Obsolete] Shak.

Pleaser noun One who pleases or gratifies.

Pleasing adjective Giving pleasure or satisfaction; causing agreeable emotion; agreeable; delightful; as, a pleasing prospect; pleasing manners. " Pleasing harmony." Shak. " Pleasing features." Macaulay. -- Pleas"ing*ly , adverb -- Pleas"ing*ness , noun

Syn. -- Gratifying; delightful; agreeable. See Pleasant .

Pleasing noun An object of pleasure. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Pleasurable adjective Capable of affording pleasure or satisfaction; gratifying; abounding in pleasantness or pleasantry.

Planting of orchards is very . . . pleasurable .

Bacon.

O, sir, you are very pleasurable .

B. Jonson.

-- Pleas"ur*a*ble*ness , noun -- Pleas"ur*a*bly , adverb

Pleasure noun [ French plaisir , originally an infinitive. See Please .]
1. The gratification of the senses or of the mind; agreeable sensations or emotions; the excitement, relish, or happiness produced by the expectation or the enjoyment of something good, delightful, or satisfying; -- opposed to pain , sorrow , etc.

At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

Ps. xvi. 11.

2. Amusement; sport; diversion; self- indulgence; frivolous or dissipating enjoyment; hence, sensual gratification; -- opposed to labor , service , duty , self-denial , etc. "Not sunk in carnal pleasure ." Milton.

He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man.

Prov. xxi. 17.

Lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.

2 Tim. iii. 4.

3. What the will dictates or prefers as gratifying or satisfying; hence, will; choice; wish; purpose. "He will do his pleasure on Babylon." Isa. xlviii. 14.

Use your pleasure ; if your love do not presuade you to come, let not my letter.

Shak.

4. That which pleases; a favor; a gratification. Shak.

Festus, willing to do the Jews a pleasure

Acts xxv. 9.

At pleasure , by arbitrary will or choice. Dryden. -- To take pleasure in , to have enjoyment in. Ps. cxlvii. 11.

» Pleasure is used adjectively, or in the formation of self-explaining compounds; as, pleasure boat, pleasure ground; pleasure house, etc.

Syn. -- Enjoyment; gratification; satisfaction; comfort; solace; joy; gladness; delight; will; choice; preference; purpose; command; favor; kindness.

Pleasure transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Pleasured ; present participle & verbal noun Pleasuring .] To give or afford pleasure to; to please; to gratify. Shak.

[ Rolled] his hoop to pleasure Edith.

Tennyson.

Pleasure intransitive verb To take pleasure; to seek pursue pleasure; as, to go pleasuring .

Pleasureful adjective Affording pleasure. [ R.]

Pleasureless adjective Devoid of pleasure. G. Eliot.

Pleasurer noun A pleasure seeker. Dickens.

Pleasurist noun A person devoted to worldly pleasure. [ R.] Sir T. Browne.

Pleat (plēt) noun & transitive verb See Plait .

Plebe (plēb) noun [ French plèbe , from Latin plebs .]
1. The common people; the mob. [ Obsolete]

The plebe with thirst and fury prest.

Sylvester.

2. [ Confer Plebeian .] A member of the lowest class in the military academy at West Point. [ Cant, U.S.]

Plebeian (ple*bē"y a n) adjective [ Latin plebeius , from plebs , plebis , the common people: confer French plébéien .]
1. Of or pertaining to the Roman plebs , or common people.

2. Of or pertaining to the common people; vulgar; common; as, plebeian sports; a plebeian throng.

Plebeian noun
1. One of the plebs , or common people of ancient Rome, in distinction from patrician .

2. One of the common people, or lower rank of men.

Plebeiance noun
1. Plebeianism. [ Obsolete]

2. Plebeians, collectively. [ Obsolete]

Plebeianism noun [ Confer French plébéianisme .]
1. The quality or state of being plebeian.

2. The conduct or manners of plebeians; vulgarity.

Plebeianize transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Plebeianized ; present participle & verbal noun Plebeianizing .] To render plebeian, common, or vulgar.

Plebicolist noun [ Latin plebs the common people + colere to cultivate.] One who flatters, or courts the favor of, the common people; a demagogue. [ R.]

Plebification noun [ Latin plebs the common people + -ficare (in comp.) to make. See -fy .] A rendering plebeian; the act of vulgarizing. [ R.]

You begin with the attempt to popularize learning . . . but you will end in the plebification of knowledge.

Coleridge.

Plebiscitary adjective Of or pertaining to plebiscite. The Century.

Plebiscite noun [ French plébiscite , from Latin plebiscitum .] A vote by universal male suffrage; especially, in France, a popular vote, as first sanctioned by the National Constitution of 1791. [ Written also plebiscit .]

Plebiscite we have lately taken, in popular use, from the French.

Fitzed. Hall.

Plebiscitum noun [ Latin , from plebs , plebis , common people + scitum decree.] (Rom. Antiq.) A law enacted by the common people, under the superintendence of a tribune or some subordinate plebeian magistrate, without the intervention of the senate.

Plebs (plĕbz) noun [ Latin Confer Plebe .]
1. The commonalty of ancient Rome who were citizens without the usual political rights; the plebeians; - - distinguished from the patricians .

2. Hence, the common people; the populace; -- construed as a plural

Plectile adjective [ Latin plectilis .] Woven; plaited. [ Obsolete] Sir T. Browne.

Plectognath adjective (Zoology) Of or pertaining to the Plectognathi. - - noun One of the Plectognathi.

Plectognathi noun plural [ New Latin , from Greek ... twisted (fr. ... to plait, twist) + ... jaw.] (Zoology) An order of fishes generally having the maxillary bone united with the premaxillary, and the articular united with the dentary.

» The upper jaw is immovably joined to the skull; the ventral fins are rudimentary or wanting; and the body is covered with bony plates, spines, or small rough ossicles, like shagreen. The order includes the diodons, filefishes, globefishes, and trunkfishes.

Plectognathic, Plec-tognathous adjective (Zoology) Of or pertaining to the Plectognathi.

Plectospondyli noun plural [ New Latin , from Greek ... plaited + ..., ..., a vertebra.] (Zoology) An extensive suborder of fresh-water physostomous fishes having the anterior vertebræ united and much modified; the Eventognathi.

Plectospondylous adjective (Zoology) Of or pertaining to the Plectospondyli.

Plectrum noun ; plural Latin Plectra , E. Plectrums . [ Latin , from Greek ... anything to strike with, from ... to strike.] A small instrument of ivory, wood, metal, or quill, used in playing upon the lyre and other stringed instruments.

Pled imperfect & past participle of Plead [ Colloq.] Spenser.

Pledge noun [ Old French plege , pleige , pledge, guaranty, Late Latin plegium , plivium ; akin to Old French plevir to bail, guaranty, perhaps from Latin praebere to proffer, offer ( sc. fidem a trust, a promise of security), but confer also English play . √28. Confer Prebend , Replevin .]
1. (Law) The transfer of possession of personal property from a debtor to a creditor as security for a debt or engagement; also, the contract created between the debtor and creditor by a thing being so delivered or deposited, forming a species of bailment; also, that which is so delivered or deposited; something put in pawn.

» Pledge is ordinarily confined to personal property; the title or ownership does not pass by it; possession is essential to it. In all these points it differs from a mortgage [ see Mortgage ]; and in the last, from the hypotheca of the Roman law. See Hypotheca . Story. Kent.

2. (Old Eng. Law) A person who undertook, or became responsible, for another; a bail; a surety; a hostage. "I am Grumio's pledge ." Shak.

3. A hypothecation without transfer of possession.

4. Anything given or considered as a security for the performance of an act; a guarantee; as, mutual interest is the best pledge for the performance of treaties. "That voice, their liveliest pledge of hope." Milton.

5. A promise or agreement by which one binds one's self to do, or to refrain from doing, something; especially, a solemn promise in writing to refrain from using intoxicating liquors or the like; as, to sign the pledge ; the mayor had made no pledges .

6. A sentiment to which assent is given by drinking one's health; a toast; a health.

Dead pledge . [ A translation of LL . mortuum vadium .] (Law) A mortgage. See Mortgage . -- Living pledge . [ A translation of Late Latin vivum vadium .] (Law) The conveyance of an estate to another for money borrowed, to be held by him until the debt is paid out of the rents and profits. -- To hold in pledge , to keep as security. -- To put in pledge , to pawn; to give as security.

Syn. -- See Earnest .

Pledge transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Pledged ; present participle & verbal noun Pledging .] [ Confer Old French pleiger to give security. See Pledge , noun ]
1. To deposit, as a chattel, in pledge or pawn; to leave in possession of another as security; as, to pledge one's watch.

2. To give or pass as a security; to guarantee; to engage; to plight; as, to pledge one's word and honor.

We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.

The Declaration of Independence.

3. To secure performance of, as by a pledge. [ Obsolete]

To pledge my vow, I give my hand.

Shak.

4. To bind or engage by promise or declaration; to engage solemnly; as, to pledge one's self.

5. To invite another to drink, by drinking of the cup first, and then handing it to him, as a pledge of good will; hence, to drink the health of; to toast.

Pledge me, my friend, and drink till thou be'st wise.

Cowley.

Pledgee noun The one to whom a pledge is given, or to whom property pledged is delivered.

Pledgeless adjective Having no pledge.

Pledgeor, Pledgor noun (Law) One who pledges, or delivers anything in pledge; a pledger; -- opposed to pledgee .

» This word analogically requires the e after g , but the spelling pledgor is perhaps commoner.

Pledger noun One who pledges.

Pledgery noun [ Confer Old French pleigerie .] A pledging; suretyship. [ Obsolete]