ply Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun one of the strands twisted together to make yarn or rope or thread; often used in combination
    • three-ply cord
    • four-ply yarn
  2. noun (usually in combinations) one of several layers of cloth or paper or wood as in plywood
  3. verb give what is desired or needed, especially support, food or sustenance
    provide; cater; supply.
    • The hostess provided lunch for all the guests
  4. verb apply oneself diligently
    • Ply one's trade
  5. verb travel a route regularly
    run.
    • Ships ply the waters near the coast
  6. verb join together as by twisting, weaving, or molding
    • ply fabric
  7. verb wield vigorously
    • ply an axe
  8. verb use diligently
    • ply your wits!

WordNet

Ply transitive verb
Etymology
OE. plien, F. plier to fold, to bend, fr. L. plicare; akin to Gr. , G. flechten. Cf. Apply, Complex, Display, Duplicity, Employ, Exploit, Implicate, Plait, Pliant, Flax.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Plied ; present participle & verbal noun Plying
Definitions
  1. To bend. Obs.
    As men may warm wax with handes plie. Chaucer.
  2. To lay on closely, or in folds; to work upon steadily, or with repeated acts; to press upon; to urge importunately; as, to ply one with questions, with solicitations, or with drink.
    And plies him with redoubled strokes Dryden.
    He plies the duke at morning and at night. Shak.
  3. To employ diligently; to use steadily.
    Go ply thy needle; meddle not. Shak.
  4. To practice or perform with diligence; to work at.
    Their bloody task, unwearied, still they ply. Waller.
Ply intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To bend; to yield. Obs.
    It would rather burst atwo than plye. Chaucer.
    The willow plied, and gave way to the gust. L'Estrange.
  2. To act, go, or work diligently and steadily; especially, to do something by repeated actions; to go back and forth; as, a steamer plies between certain ports.
    Ere half these authors be read (which will soon be with plying hard and daily). Milton.
    He was forced to ply in the streets as a porter. Addison.
    The heavy hammers and mallets plied. Longfellow.
  3. (Naut.) To work to windward; to beat.
Ply noun
Etymology
Cf. F. pli, fr. plier. See Ply, v.
Definitions
  1. A fold; a plait; a turn or twist, as of a cord. Arbuthnot.
  2. Bent; turn; direction; bias.
    The late learners can not so well take the ply. Bacon.
    Boswell, and others of Goldsmith's contemporaries, . . . did not understand the secret plies of his character. W. Irving.
    The czar's mind had taken a strange ply, which it retained to the last. Macaulay.
    ✍ Ply is used in composition to designate folds, or the number of webs interwoven; as, a three-ply carpet.

Webster 1913