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Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle English, from Middle French pli ‎(pleat, fold), from plier ‎(bend, fold), from Latin plicō ‎(I fold, I fold together).


ply ‎(plural plies)

  1. A layer of material.
    two-ply toilet paper
  2. A strand that, twisted together with other strands, makes up yarn or rope.
  3. (colloquial) plywood.
  4. (artificial intelligence, game theory) In two-player sequential games, a "half-turn", or one 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) State, condition.
    • 1749, John Cleland, Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, Penguin 1985, p. 66:
      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.
Derived terms[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

From Middle English plien ‎(bend, fold, mold), from Middle French plier ‎(bend, fold), see Etymology 1.


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

  1. (transitive) to bend; to fold.
    • L'Estrange
      The willow plied, and gave way to the gust.
  2. (intransitive) to flex.
Derived terms[edit]

Etymology 3[edit]

From Middle English plien, short for applien ‎(apply)



  1. (transitive) To work at diligently.
    He plied his trade as carpenter for forty-three years.
    • Waller
      Their bloody task, unwearied, still they ply.
  2. (intransitive) To work diligently.
    • Milton
      Ere half these authors be read (which will soon be with plying hard and daily).
    • Addison
      He was forced to ply in the streets as a porter.
  3. (transitive) To use vigorously.
    He plied his ax with bloody results.
  4. (transitive) To travel over regularly.
    ply the seven seas
    A steamer plies between certain ports.
  5. (transitive) To persist in offering.
      Esther began [] to cry. But when the fire had been lit specially to warm her chilled limbs and Adela had plied her with hot negus she began to feel rather a heroine.
    She plied him with liquor.
  6. To press upon; to urge importunately.
    to ply one with questions, with solicitations, or with drink
    • Shakespeare
      He plies the duke at morning and at night.
  7. To employ diligently; to use steadily.
    • Shakespeare
      Go ply thy needle; meddle not.
  8. (nautical) To work to windward; to beat.
