Word.ws English Dictionary

ply

UK/plaɪ/

ply noun: a layer of material. Also the clipping of plywood.

Noun (1)

ply (countable and uncountable, plural ply or plies or plys)

  1. A layer of material.
    • two-ply toilet paper
    • It is possible to have a very well load balanced partition but with such a high ply that its slowest piece is slower than a not-so-well balanced partition with less ply.1999, Twelfth International Conference on VLSI Design: Proceedings: January 7–10, 1999, Goa, India, Los Alamitos, Calif.: IEEE Computer Society Press, →ISBN, page 313
  2. A strand that, twisted together with other strands, makes up rope or yarn.
    • To make the hail rod a rope of straw is the first thing necessary; it must be made of ripe wheat straw, soaked and twisted, plaited with three strand and then with four ply, making twelve strand to the rope.1837 August, “Art I. Protection against Hail Storms. Notice and Description of the Paragrèle, or Hail Rod. By A. J. Downing, Botanic Garden and Nurseries, Newbergh, N.Y.”, in C. M. Hovey, editor, The...
  3. (artificial intelligence, combinatorial game theory) In two-player sequential games, a "half-turn" or a move made by one of the players.
    • He proposed to build Deep Purple, a super-computer capable of 24-ply look-ahead for chess.
    • Chinook uses an iterative, alpha-beta search with transposition tables and the history heuristic[…]. Under tournament conditions (thirty moves an hour), the program searches to an average minimum depth of nineteen ply (one ply is one move by one player). The search uses selective deepening to...1996, Jonathan Schaeffer, Robert Lake, “Solving the Game of Checkers”, in Richard J. Nowakowski, editor, Games of No Chance: Combinatorial Games at MSRI, 1994 (Mathematical Sciences Research...
  4. (Scotland) A condition, a state.
    • You may be ſure, in the ply I was now taking, I had no objection to the propoſal, and was rather a tiptoe for its accompliſhment.1749, [John Cleland], “(Please specify the letter or volume)”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], London: […] [Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], →OCLC...

Verb (1)

ply (third-person singular simple present plies, present participle plying, simple past and past participle plied)

  1. (obsolete, transitive) To bend; to fold; to mould; (figuratively) to adapt, to modify; to change (a person's) mind, to cause (a person) to submit.
    • And now when at length the Vineyard has ſhed its late Leaves, and the cold Northwind ſhook from the Groves their Honours; even then the active Swain extends his Cares to the enſuing Year, and cloſe plys the deſolate forſaken Vine, cutting off the ſuperfluous Roots with Saturn's crooked Hook, and...1743, Virgil, “The Georgics of Virgil. Book II.”, in [Joseph Davidson], transl., The Works of Virgil Translated into English Prose, […] In Two Volumes, volume I, London: Printed for Joseph Davidson...
  2. (intransitive) To bend, to flex; to be bent by something, to give way or yield (to a force, etc.).
    • The Oak Upbraided the Willow, that it was Weak and Wavering, and gave way to Every Blaſt. […] Some very little while after This Diſpute, it Blew a Violent Storm. The Willow Ply’d, and gave way to the Guſt, and ſtill recover’d it ſelf again, without receiving any Damage: But the Oak was Stubborn...1692, Roger L’Estrange, “[The Fables of Anianus, &c.] Fab[le] CCXV. An Oak and a Willow.”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC, page 187

Verb (2)

ply (third-person singular simple present plies, present participle plying, simple past and past participle plied)

  1. (transitive) To work at (something) diligently.
    • He plied his trade as carpenter for forty-three years.
    • Ply you your work or elſe you are like to ſmart.1595, G[eorge] P[eele], The Old Wiues Tale. […], printed at London: By Iohn Danter, and are to be sold by Raph Hancocke, and Iohn Hardie, →OCLC; reprinted as The Old Wives Tale, 1595 (The Malone...
  2. (transitive) To wield or use (a tool, a weapon, etc.) steadily or vigorously.
    • He plied his ax with bloody results.
    • Why how now Dame, whence growes this inſolence? / Bianca ſtand aſide, poore gyrle ſhe weepes: / Go ply thy Needle; meddle not with her.c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
  3. (transitive) To press upon; to urge persistently.
    • to ply someone with questions or solicitations
    • He plies the Duke at morning and at night, / And doth impeach the freedome of the ſtate / If they deny him iuſtice.c. 1596–1598 (date written), W[illiam] Shakespeare, The Excellent History of the Merchant of Venice. […] (First Quarto), [London]: […] J[ames] Roberts [for Thomas Heyes], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act...
  4. (transitive) To persist in offering something to, especially for the purpose of inducement or persuasion.
    • to ply someone with drink
    • [T]he true Gameſters pretended to be ill, and refuſed their Glaſs, while they plied heartily two young Fellows, who were to be afterwards pillaged, as indeed they were without Mercy.1749, Henry Fielding, “In which the Man of the Hill Continues His History”, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume III, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book VIII, page 264
  5. (ambitransitive) To travel over (a route) regularly.
    • to ply the seven seas
    • The steamer plies between several ports on the coast.
  6. (intransitive, obsolete) To work diligently.
    • […] Ere halfe theſe Authors be read, which will ſoon be with plying hard, and dayly, they cannot chooſe but be maſters of any ordinary proſe.[1644], [John Milton], Of Education. To Master Samuel Hartlib, [London]: […] [Thomas Underhill and/or Thomas Johnson], →OCLC, page 4
    • He was afterwards reduced to great want, and forced to think of plying in the streets as a porter for his livelihood.1711 June 28 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “SUNDAY, June 18, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 94; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New...
  7. (intransitive, obsolete) To manoeuvre a sailing vessel so that the direction of the wind changes from one side of the vessel to the other; to work to windward, to beat, to tack.
    • Weighed anchor about five morn, and plied till about noon, and then anchored. This day, at morn, went about the general to council: the result was, the fleet should ply near, as with convenience, to the Texel, to prevent a conjunction of those ships there with Admiral [Maarten] Tromp; […]1653 July 21, William Penn, Granville Penn, “A Journal on the Vanguard”, in Memorial of the Professional Life and Times of Sir William Penn, Knt. Admiral and General of the Fleet, during the...

Noun (2)

ply

  1. A bent; a direction.

Also used as

ply is also the clipping of plywood.

ply meaning in Hindi, Marathi, Bengali and Telugu

ply in Hindi

प्लाई

ply in Marathi

प्लाय

ply in Bengali

প্লাই

ply in Telugu

ప్లై
More languagesFewer languages
ply in Malayalam
പ്ലൈ
ply in Kannada
ಪ್ಲೈ
ply in Gujarati
પ્લાઈ
ply in Odia
ପ୍ଲାଇ
ply in Nepali
प्लाई

Examples of ply in a sentence

  • The designer critic's staff would come in with, for example, loads of three-ply cashmere.2015 October, Tim Gunn, with Ada Calhoun, “Repositioning the Parsons Fashion Design Program”, in Tim Gunn: The Natty Professor: A Master...
  • Under tournament conditions (thirty moves an hour), the program searches to an average minimum depth of nineteen ply (one ply is one move by one player).1996, Jonathan Schaeffer, Robert Lake, “Solving the Game of Checkers”, in Richard J. Nowakowski, editor, Games of No Chance: Combinatorial...
  • The Willow Ply’d, and gave way to the Guſt, and ſtill recover’d it ſelf again, without receiving any Damage: But the Oak was Stubborn, and choſe rather to Break than Bend.1692, Roger L’Estrange, “[The Fables of Anianus, &c.] Fab[le] CCXV. An Oak and a Willow.”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent...
  • But English Courage growing as they fight, / In danger, noise, and slaughter takes delight, / Their bloody Task, unwearied, still they ply, / Only restrain’d by Death, or Victory: […]1666, Edm[und] Waller, Instructions to a Painter, for the Drawing of the Posture & Progress of His Ma[jes]ᵗⁱᵉˢ Forces at Sea, under the...

All 36 example sentences with ply

Forms of ply

Noun
pluralply
pluralplies
pluralplys
Verb
third-person singular presentplies
present participleplying
past participleplied
pastplied

Past tense of ply: plied

Plural of ply: ply or plies

Origin of ply

From Middle English pleit, plit, plite (“a fold, pleat, wrinkle; braid, strand in a braided cord, ply”), from Anglo-Norman pli, plei, pleit, and Middle French pli, ploy, ply (“a fold, pleat; joint in armour; situation, state”) (modern French pli (“a fold, pleat”)), from plier, ployer (“to bend, fold”), from Latin plicāre (“to bend, fold, roll up”), from Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ- (“to fold, plait, weave”).

From Middle English plīen, pli, plie (“to bend, fold, mould, shape; to be flexible; to be submissive, humble oneself; to compel someone to submit”), from Anglo-Norman plier, plaier, pleier, ploier, and Middle French plier, ployer (“to bend, fold; to be submissive; to compel someone to submit”) (modern French plier, ployer), from Old French ploiier, pleier (“to fold”), from Latin plicāre (“to fold”); see further at etymology 1. The word is cognate with Catalan plegar (“to bend, fold”), Italian piegare (“to bend, fold, fold up”), Old Occitan plegar, plejar, pleyar (“to fold”) (modern Occitan plegar), Spanish plegar (“to fold”).

From apply; compare Middle English plīen, pli, plie, pleie (“to place (something) around, on, or over, to cover; to apply, use; to strive”), short for aplīen, applīen (“to combine, join; to attach; to assemble; to use, be of use; to allot; to apply; to inflict; to go; to ply, steer; to comply, submit”), from Old French applier, aplier, aploier (“to bend; to apply”), from Latin applicāre, present active infinitive of applicō (“to apply; to attach, join; to add”), from ad- (“to, towards”) + plicō (“to bend, fold, roll up”); see further at etymology 1.

Words formed from ply

Words that rhyme with ply

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about ply

What does ply mean?
Ply means a layer of material.
What is ply in Hindi?
Ply in Hindi is प्लाई. See Ply meaning in Hindi.
How do you use ply in a sentence?
The designer critic's staff would come in with, for example, loads of three-ply cashmere.
What part of speech is ply?
Ply can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce ply?
Ply is pronounced /plaɪ/ (UK).
What is the plural of ply?
The plural of ply is ply.

Words near ply in the dictionary

  1. Pluviôses
  2. PLWC
  3. PLWH
  4. PLWHA
  5. PLWHIV
  6. ply
  7. plyboard
  8. plyboards
  9. plycount
  10. plycounts
  11. plyer

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ply (page history and authors); ply (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ply (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ply (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ply (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ply (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ply (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ply (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ply (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ply (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-ply.ogg.

Cite this entry: “ply.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ply. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.