plea
nounverbcommon in dialogue
- //pliː//
An appeal, petition, urgent prayer or entreaty.
noun
- 1
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
make a plea
- 2
An excuse; an apology.
Necessity, the tyrant’s plea.
No Plea must serve; ’tis cruelty to spare.
- 3
That which is alleged or pleaded, in defense or in justification.
- 4
That which is alleged by a party in support of his cause.
- 5
An allegation of fact in a cause, as distinguished from a demurrer.
- 6
The defendant’s answer to the plaintiff’s declaration and demand.
- 7
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.
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.
verb
- 1
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.
Forms
- plural
- pleas
- past tense
- pleaed
- past participle
- pleaed
- present participle
- pleaing
- third person singular
- pleas
plea · An appeal, petition, urgent prayer or entreaty.
plead · To present (an argument or a plea), especially in a legal…pleading · The act of making a plea.pleasant · Giving pleasure; pleasing in manner.