Plexure Plex"ure noun [ See Plexus .] The act or process of weaving together, or interweaving; that which is woven together. H. Brooke.

Plexus Plex"us noun ; plural Latin Plexus , English Plexuses . [ Latin , a twining, braid, from plectere , plexum , to twine, braid.] 1. (Anat.) A network of vessels, nerves, or fibers.

2. (Math.) The system of equations required for the complete expression of the relations which exist between a set of quantities. Brande & C.

Plexus Plex"us noun A network; an intricate or interwoven combination of elements or parts in a coherent structure.

In the perception of a tree the reference to an object is circumscribed and directed by a plexus of visual and other presentations.

G. F. Stout.

Pley Pley v. & noun See Play . [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Pley Pley adjective Full See Plein . [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Pleyt Pleyt noun (Nautical) An old term for a river boat.

Pliability Pli`a·bil"i·ty noun The quality or state of being pliable; flexibility; as, pliability of disposition. " Pliability of movement." Sir W. Scott.

Pliable Pli"a·ble adjective [ French, from plier to bend, to fold. See Ply , v. ] 1. Capable of being plied, turned, or bent; easy to be bent; flexible; pliant; supple; limber; yielding; as, willow is a pliable plant.

2. Flexible in disposition; readily yielding to influence, arguments, persuasion, or discipline; easy to be persuaded; -- sometimes in a bad sense; as, a pliable youth. " Pliable she promised to be." Dr. H. More.

-- Pli"a*ble*ness , noun -- Pli"a*bly , adverb

Pliancy Pli"an·cy noun The quality or state of being pliant in sense; as, the pliancy of a rod. "Avaunt all specious pliancy of mind." Wordsworth.

Pliant Pli"ant adjective [ French pliant , present participle of plier to bend. See Ply , v. ] 1. Capable of plying or bending; readily yielding to force or pressure without breaking; flexible; pliable; lithe; limber; plastic; as, a pliant thread; pliant wax. Also used figuratively: Easily influenced for good or evil; tractable; as, a pliant heart.

The will was then ductile and pliant to right reason.

South.

2. Favorable to pliancy. [ R.] "A pliant hour." Shak. -- Pli"ant*ly , adverb -- Pli"ant*ness , noun

Plica Pli"ca noun [ Late Latin , a fold, from Latin plicare to fold. See Ply , v. ] 1. (Medicine) A disease of the hair ( Plica polonica ), in which it becomes twisted and matted together. The disease is of Polish origin, and is hence called also Polish plait . Dunglison.

2. (Botany) A diseased state in plants in which there is an excessive development of small entangled twigs, instead of ordinary branches.

3. (Zoology) The bend of the wing of a bird.

Plicate, Plicated Pli"cate, Pli"ca·ted adjective [ Latin plicatus , past participle of plicare to fold.] Plaited; folded like a fan; as, a plicate leaf. -- Pli"cate*ly adverb

Plication Pli·ca"tion noun A folding or fold; a plait. Richardson.

Plicature Plic"a·ture noun [ Latin plicatura , from plicare to fold.] A fold; a doubling; a plication. Dr. H. More.

Plicidentine Plic`i·den"tine noun [ Late Latin plica fold + English dentine .] (Anat.) A form of dentine which shows sinuous lines of structure in a transverse section of the tooth.

Plied Plied imperfect & past participle of Ply .

Pliers Pli"ers noun plural [ From Ply to bend, fold.] A kind of small pinchers with long jaws, -- used for bending or cutting metal rods or wire, for handling small objects such as the parts of a watch, etc.

Pliform Pli"form adjective [ Ply a fold + -form .] In the form of a ply, fold, or doubling. [ Obsolete] Pennant.

Plight Plight obsolete imperfect & past participle of Plight , to pledge. Chaucer.

Plight Plight obsolete imperfect & past participle of Pluck . Chaucer.

Plight Plight transitive verb [ Middle English pliten ; probably through Old French, from Late Latin plectare , Latin plectere . See Plait , Ply .] To weave; to braid; to fold; to plait. [ Obsolete] "To sew and plight ." Chaucer.

A plighted garment of divers colors.

Milton.

Plight Plight noun A network; a plait; a fold; rarely a garment. [ Obsolete] "Many a folded plight ." Spenser.

Plight Plight noun [ Middle English pliht danger, engagement, Anglo-Saxon pliht danger, from pleón to risk; akin to Dutch plicht duty, German pflicht , Danish pligt . √28. Confer Play .] 1. That which is exposed to risk; that which is plighted or pledged; security; a gage; a pledge. "That lord whose hand must take my plight ." Shak.

2. [ Perh. the same word as plight a pledge, but at least influenced by Old French plite , pliste , ploit , ploi , a condition, state; confer English plight to fold, and French pli a fold, habit, plier to fold, English ply .] Condition; state; -- risk, or exposure to danger, often being implied; as, a luckless plight . "Your plight is pitied." Shak.

To bring our craft all in another plight

Chaucer.

Plight Plight transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Plighted ; present participle & verbal noun Plighting .] [ Anglo-Saxon plihtan to expose to danger, pliht danger;cf. D. ver plichten to oblige, engage, impose a duty, G. ver pflichten , Swedish för plikta , Dan. for pligte . See Plight , noun ] 1. To pledge; to give as a pledge for the performance of some act; as, to plight faith, honor, word; -- never applied to property or goods. " To do them plighte their troth." Piers Plowman.

He plighted his right hand
Unto another love, and to another land.

Spenser.

Here my inviolable faith I plight .

Dryden.

2. To promise; to engage; to betroth.

Before its setting hour, divide
The bridegroom from the plighted bride.

Sir W. Scott.

Plighter Plight"er noun One who, or that which, plights.

Plim Plim intransitive verb [ Confer Plump .] To swell, as grain or wood with water. [ Prov. Eng.] Grose.

Plimsoll's mark Plim"soll's mark` (Nautical) A mark conspicuously painted on the port side of all British sea-going merchant vessels, to indicate the limit of submergence allowed by law; -- so called from Samuel Plimsoll , by whose efforts the act of Parliament to prevent overloading was procured.

Plinth Plinth noun [ Latin plinthus , Greek ... a brick or tile, a plinth, perhaps akin to English flint : confer French plinthe .] (Architecture) In classical architecture, a vertically faced member immediately below the circular base of a column; also, the lowest member of a pedestal; hence, in general, the lowest member of a base; a sub-base; a block upon which the moldings of an architrave or trim are stopped at the bottom. See Illust. of Column .

Pliocene Pli"o·cene adjective [ Written also pleiocene .] [ Greek ... more + ... new, recent.] (Geol.) Of, pertaining to, or characterizing, the most recent division of the Tertiary age.

Pliocene Pli"o·cene noun (Geol.) The Pliocene period or deposits.

Pliohippus Pli`o·hip"pus noun [ New Latin , from English plio cene + Greek ... horse.] (Paleon.) An extinct genus of horses from the Pliocene deposits. Each foot had a single toe (or hoof), as in the common horse.

Pliosaurus Pli`o·sau"rus noun [ New Latin , from Greek ... greater + ... lizard.] (Paleon.) An extinct genus of marine reptiles allied to Plesiosaurus, but having a much shorter neck.

Plitt Plitt noun [ Russian plete .] An instrument of punishment or torture resembling the knout, used in Russia.

Ploc Ploc noun [ French] (Nautical) A mixture of hair and tar for covering the bottom of a ship.

Ploce Plo"ce noun [ Latin , from Greek ... complication, from ... to entwine.] (Rhet.) A figure in which a word is separated or repeated by way of emphasis, so as not only to signify the individual thing denoted by it, but also its peculiar attribute or quality; as, "His wife 's a wife indeed." Bailey.

Plod Plod intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Plodded ; present participle & verbal noun Plodding .] [ Gf. Gael. plod a clod, a pool; also, to strike or pelt with a clod or clods.] 1. To travel slowly but steadily; to trudge. Shak.

2. To toil; to drudge; especially, to study laboriously and patiently. " Plodding schoolmen." Drayton.

Plod Plod transitive verb To walk on slowly or heavily.

The ploughman homeward plods his weary way.

Gray.

Plodder Plod"der noun One who plods; a drudge.

Plodding Plod"ding adjective Progressing in a slow, toilsome manner; characterized by laborious diligence; as, a plodding peddler; a plodding student; a man of plodding habits. -- Plod"ding*ly , adverb

Plonge Plonge transitive verb [ See Plunge .] To cleanse, as open drains which are entered by the tide, by stirring up the sediment when the tide ebbs.

Plongée Plon`gée" noun [ French See Plunge .] (Mil.) A slope or sloping toward the front; as, the plongée of a parapet; the plongée of a shell in its course. [ Sometimes written plonge .]

Plop Plop intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Plopped ; present participle & verbal noun Plopping .] [ Imitative.] To fall, drop, or move in any way, with a sudden splash or slap, as on the surface of water.

The body plopped up, turning on its side.

Kipling.

Plop Plop noun Act of plopping; the sound made in plopping.

Plot Plot noun [ Anglo-Saxon plot ; confer Goth. plats a patch. Confer Plat a piece of ground.] 1. A small extent of ground; a plat; as, a garden plot . Shak.

2. A plantation laid out. [ Obsolete] Sir P. Sidney.

3. (Surv.) A plan or draught of a field, farm, estate, etc., drawn to a scale.

Plot Plot transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Plotted ; present participle & verbal noun Plotting .] To make a plot, map, pr plan, of; to mark the position of on a plan; to delineate.

This treatise plotteth down Cornwall as it now standeth.

Carew.

Plot Plot noun [ Abbrev. from complot .] 1. Any scheme, stratagem, secret design, or plan, of a complicated nature, adapted to the accomplishment of some purpose, usually a treacherous and mischievous one; a conspiracy; an intrigue; as, the Rye-house Plot .

I have overheard a plot of death.

Shak.

O, think what anxious moments pass between
The birth of plots and their last fatal periods!

Addison.

2. A share in such a plot or scheme; a participation in any stratagem or conspiracy. [ Obsolete]

And when Christ saith, Who marries the divorced commits adultery, it is to be understood, if he had any plot in the divorce.

Milton.

3. Contrivance; deep reach of thought; ability to plot or intrigue. [ Obsolete] "A man of much plot ." Denham.

4. A plan; a purpose. "No other plot in their religion but serve God and save their souls." Jer. Taylor.

5. In fiction, the story of a play, novel, romance, or poem, comprising a complication of incidents which are gradually unfolded, sometimes by unexpected means.

If the plot or intrigue must be natural, and such as springs from the subject, then the winding up of the plot must be a probable consequence of all that went before.

Pope.

Syn. -- Intrigue; stratagem; conspiracy; cabal; combination; contrivance.

Plot Plot (plŏt) intransitive verb 1. To form a scheme of mischief against another, especially against a government or those who administer it; to conspire. Shak.

The wicked plotteth against the just.

Ps. xxxvii. 12.

2. To contrive a plan or stratagem; to scheme.

The prince did plot to be secretly gone.

Sir H. Wotton.

Plot Plot transitive verb To plan; to scheme; to devise; to contrive secretly. " Plotting an unprofitable crime." Dryden. " Plotting now the fall of others." Milton

Plot-proof Plot"-proof` adjective Secure against harm by plots. Shak.

Plotful Plot"ful adjective Abounding with plots.

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