Ply (?), v. t. [imp. & p.
p. Plied (?); p. pr. & vb. n.
Plying (?).] [OE. plien, F. plier to fold, to
bend, fr. L. plicare; akin to Gr. ?, G. flechten. Cf.
Apply, Complex, Display, Duplicity,
Employ, Exploit, Implicate, Plait,
Pliant, Flax.] 1. To bend.
[Obs.]
As men may warm wax with handes
plie.
Chaucer.
2. To lay on closely, or in folds; to work
upon steadily, or with repeated acts; to press upon; to urge
importunately; as, to ply one with questions, with
solicitations, or with drink.
And plies him with redoubled
strokes
Dryden.
He plies the duke at morning and at
night.
Shak.
3. To employ diligently; to use
steadily.
Go ply thy needle; meddle not.
Shak.
4. To practice or perform with diligence; to
work at.
Their bloody task, unwearied, still they
ply.
Waller.Ply, v. i. 1. To
bend; to yield. [Obs.]
It would rather burst atwo than
plye.
Chaucer.
The willow plied, and gave way to the
gust.
L'Estrange.
2. To act, go, or work diligently and
steadily; especially, to do something by repeated actions; to go back
and forth; as, a steamer plies between certain ports.
Ere half these authors be read (which will soon be with
plying hard and daily).
Milton.
He was forced to ply in the streets as a
porter.
Addison.
The heavy hammers and mallets
plied.
Longfellow.
3. (Naut.) To work to windward; to
beat.
Ply, n. [Cf. F. pli, fr.
plier. See Ply, v.] 1.
A fold; a plait; a turn or twist, as of a cord.
Arbuthnot.
2. Bent; turn; direction; bias.
The late learners can not so well take the
ply.
Bacon.
Boswell, and others of Goldsmith's contemporaries, . .
. did not understand the secret plies of his
character.
W. Irving.
The czar's mind had taken a strange ply, which
it retained to the last.
Macaulay.
☞ Ply is used in composition to designate folds, or the
number of webs interwoven; as, a three-ply carpet.