• (RP, GA) IPA: /plaɪ/

ply

1. A layer#Noun|layer of material#Noun|material.

   two-ply toilet paper

2. A strand#Noun|strand that, twist#Verb|twisted together with other strands, makes up rope#Noun|rope or yarn#Noun|yarn.
3. (colloquial) Short for plywood#English|plywood.
4. (artificial intelligence, combinatorial game theory) In two-player sequential game#Noun|games, a "half-turn#Noun|turn" or a move#Noun|move made by one of the players.

   He proposed to build Deep Purple, a super-computer capable of 24-ply look-ahead for chess.

5. (now, chiefly, Scotland) A condition#Noun|condition, a state#Noun|state.
   • 1749, [John Cleland], “(Please specify the letter or volume)”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], London: Printed [by Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], OCLC 731622352 ↗, page 75 ↗:

     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.

• German: Lage

ply (plies, present participle plying; past and past participle plied)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To bend#Verb|bend; to fold#Verb|fold; to mould#Verb|mould; (figuratively) to adapt, to modify; to change#Verb|change (a person's) mind#Noun|mind, to cause#Verb|cause (a person) to submit.
2. (intransitive) To bend, to flex#Verb|flex; to be bend#Verb|bent by something, to give way or yield#Verb|yield (to a force#Noun|force, etc.).
   • 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: Printed for R[ichard] Sare, […], OCLC 228727523 ↗, page 187 ↗:

     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, and choſe rather to Break than Bend.

• French: plier
• German: biegen, falten
• Russian: скру́чивать

• Russian: сгиба́ть

ply (plies, present participle plying; past and past participle plied)

1. (transitive) To work#Verb|work at (something) diligently.

   He plied his trade as carpenter for forty-three years.

   • 1877, Robert Louis Stevenson, “An Apology for Idlers”, in Virginibus Puerisque and Other Papers, London: C[harles] Kegan Paul & Co., […], published 1881, OCLC 504702577 ↗, page 124 ↗:

     Many who have "plied their book diligently," and know all about some one branch or another of accepted lore, come out of the study with an ancient and owl-like demeanour, and prove dry, stockish, and dyspeptic in all the better and brighter parts of life.

2. (transitive) To wield or use#Verb|use (a tool#Noun|tool, a weapon, etc.) steadily or vigorously.

   He plied his ax with bloody results.

   • c. 1590–1592, William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act II, scene i], page 215 ↗, column 1:

     Why how now Dame, whence growes this inſolence? / Bianca ſtand aſide, poore gyrle ſhe weepes: / Go ply thy Needle; meddle not with her.

3. (transitive) To press#Verb|press upon; to urge#Verb|urge persistently.

   to ply someone with questions or solicitations

   • c. 1596–1598, W[illiam] Shakespeare, The Excellent History of the Merchant of Venice. […] (First Quarto), [London]: Printed by J[ames] Roberts [for Thomas Heyes], published 1600, OCLC 24594216 ↗, [Act III, scene ii] ↗:

     He plies the Duke at morning and at night, / And doth impeach the freedome of the ſtate / If they deny him iuſtice.

4. (transitive) To persist#Verb|persist in offer#Verb|offering something to, especially for the purpose of inducement or persuasion.

   to ply someone with drink

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, “In which the Man of the Hill Continues His History”, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. In Six Volumes, volume III, London: Printed by A[ndrew] Millar, […], OCLC 928184292 ↗, book VIII, page 264 ↗:

     [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.

5. (ambitransitive, transport) To travel#Verb|travel over (a route#Noun|route) regularly.

   to ply the seven seas

   The steamer plies between several ports on the coast.

6. (intransitive, obsolete) To work diligently.
   • [1644], [John Milton], Of Education. To Master Samuel Hartlib, [London: Printed for Thomas Underhill and/or for Thomas Johnson], OCLC 946735316 ↗, page 4 ↗:

     {...}} 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.

   • He was afterwards reduced to great want, and forced to think of plying in the streets as a porter for his livelihood.

7. (intransitive, nautical, obsolete) To manoeuvre a sailing#Adjective|sailing vessel so that the direction of the wind#Noun|wind change#Verb|changes from one side of the vessel to the other; to work to windward, to beat#Verb|beat, to tack#Verb|tack.

• Russian: усе́рдно рабо́тать

• Russian: по́тчевать

• Russian: курси́ровать

ply

1. A bent; a direction.