English
entreat
Pronunciation
  • IPA: /ɪnˈtɹiːt/, /ənˈtɹiːt/, /ɛnˈtɹiːt/
Verb

entreat (entreats, present participle entreating; past and past participle entreated)

  1. To treat with, or in respect to, a thing desired; hence, to ask for earnestly.
    • 1623, William Shakespeare, The Two Gentlemen of Verona
      If you be she, I doe intreat your patience.
    • 1845, Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven
      some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door
  2. To beseech or supplicate (a person); to prevail upon by prayer or solicitation; to try to persuade.
    • 1789, John Rogers, The Nature and Influence of the Fear of God (sermon)
      It were a fruitless attempt to appease a power whom no prayers could entreat.
    • 1847, Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, Chapter XVIII
      “But I cannot persuade her to go away, my lady,” said the footman; “nor can any of the servants. Mrs. Fairfax is with her just now, entreating her to be gone; but she has taken a chair in the chimney-comer, and says nothing shall stir her from it till she gets leave to come in here.”
    • 1937, Frank Churchill and Leigh Harline, “One Song”, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Walt Disney:
      One heart / Tenderly beating / Ever entreating / Constant and true
  3. (obsolete) To invite; to entertain.
    • pleasures to entreat
  4. (obsolete) To treat or discourse; hence, to enter into negotiations, as for a treaty.
    • of which I shall have further occasion to entreat
    • 1611, King James Bible, 1 Maccabees x. 47
      Alexander […] was first that entreated of true peace with them.
  5. (obsolete, intransitive) To make an earnest petition or request.
    • The Janizaries entreated for them as valiant men.
  6. (obsolete, transitive) To treat, or conduct toward; to deal with; to use.
    • 1597, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of King Richard the Second
      Fairly let her be entreated.
    • 1611 King James Bible, Jeremiah xv. 11
      I will cause the enemy to entreat thee well.
Translations Translations Translations Translations
  • Russian: проси́ть
Noun

entreat (plural entreats)

  1. (obsolete) An entreaty.
    • , Mundorum explicatio
      Let my entreats of Love prevail so far, / When for your happinesse they spoken are: […]
    • 2006, Khaled Abou El Fadl, The Search for Beauty in Islam: A Conference of the Books,[http://books.google.com/books?id=Rzzlj9K9KXYC ] Rowman & Littlefield, ISBN 978-0-7425-5094-0, page 236:
      In the Muslim world, the most compelling and decisive books are those full of confessions written on the flesh of victims, and the most earnest prayers are the entreats for mercy screamed in pain and anguish at the tormentors and flesh and thought.


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