Please (?), v. t. [imp. & p.
p. Pleased; p. pr. & vb. n.
Pleasing.] [OE. plesen, OF. plaisir, fr. L.
placere, akin to placare to reconcile. Cf.
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 (?), v. i. 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.