▪ I. plaint, n.
(pleɪnt)
Forms: α. 3–4 pleinte, 4–5 pleynte, 5–6 playnte, plainte, (5 plancte, playnthe, 6 plente). β. 4 pleint, 4–6 pleynt, playnt, 4–6 plant, 5 playntt, 5–6 plent, 4– plaint.
[In ME. two words: αpleinte, plainte, a. OF. plainte, in med.L. plancta (Du Cange), n. from fem. pa. pple. of plang-ĕre, ppl. stem planct-, to beat the breast, lament: for form cf. complaint. βpleint, plaint, a. OF. plaint, pleint = Pr. planch, Sp. llanto, Pg. pranto, It. pianto:—L. planctu-s (u- stem), f. same vb. Only the latter has come down into mod.Eng.]
1. The action or an act of plaining; audible expression of sorrow; lamentation, grieving. (From 1600 chiefly poetic.)
| α a 1225 Ancr. R. 96 No wouhleche nis so culuert ase is o pleinte wis. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 6726 To god he made is pleinte ofte wepinde wel bliue. 1390 Gower Conf. III. 323 Whan he hire wofull pleintes herde..Him liste betre forto wepe. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 54/2 Whan they of the contre sawe this plancte and sorowyng they saide this is a grete sorow to thegypcyens. |
| β c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 5163 Androcheus herde þe kynges pleint. c 1400 Destr. Troy 8686 The petie & the playnt was pyn for to here! 1559 Primer in Priv. Prayers (1851) 91 Thou only art my God, thou must hear my piteous plaint. 1588 Greene Pandosto (1607) 19 Pandosto would once a day repaire to the Tombe, and there with watry plants bewaile his misfortune. 1667 Milton P.L. x. 343 The hapless Paire Sate in their sad discourse, and various plaint. 1734 tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. (1827) VI. xv. iv. 44 They all burst into tears, and breathed their plaints in the following words. 1770 Goldsm. Des. Vill. 379 With louder plaints the mother spoke her woes. 1885–94 R. Bridges Eros & Psyche May xxviii, And piteously with tears her plaint renew'd. |
b. transf. and fig.
| 1742 West Let. in Gray's Poems (1775) 148 A plaint is heard from ev'ry tree. 1804 J. Grahame Sabbath 166 The wheeling plover ceas'd Her plaint. a 1881 Rossetti House of Life xcviii, With plaints for every flower. |
2. A statement or representation of wrong, injury, or injustice suffered; a complaint.
| α c 1300 Havelok 2961 Hauelok..bad ubbe..Þat he sholde on ilke wise Denemark yeme and gete so, Þat no pleynte come him to. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. iv. 214 For pore men der nat pleyne ne here pleinte shewe. 1484 Caxton Fables of Alfonce ii, Therof he wold haue made a playnte to his neyghbours. |
| β 13.. Cursor M. 12065 Þe gret lauerdinges..plaint on him mad communli Bath to ihosep and to mari. 1444 Aberdeen Regr. (1844) I. 12 The alderman..profferand that give thar be ony cause of playnt it suld be well reformyt and amendid. 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. III. 799/2 He should come and present his plaint to the king. 1605 Verstegan Dec. Intell. vi. (1628) 158 Shee with teares made vnto him her plaint. 1821 J. Baillie Met. Leg., Columbus xxxv. 10 They graciously, His plaint and plea receiv'd. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. I. xxxii. 441 It was apparent that our savage friends had their plaint to make, or, it might be, to avenge. |
† b. Cause, ground, or matter of complaint. Obs.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 10640 (Cott.) Þan most þis mai be clene and bright, Wit-vten plaint, wit-vten plight. 1382 Wyclif Eccl. vii. 15 That a man finde not aȝen hym riȝtwis pleyntes. 1499 Exch. Rolls Scotl. XI. 395 That the balye hald foure balye courtis..for..reforming of plants of nychtbourhed and uthiris. |
3. spec. An oral or written statement of grievance made to a court of law, for the purpose of obtaining redress; an accusation, charge, complaint.
| α [1292 Britton i. i. §11 Et volums qe le poer de nos Justices..ne pasent mie les pointz de nos brefs,..ne des pleintes a eux fetes. 1321 Rolls of Parlt. I. 387/1 Qe la plainte puisse estre trie par duze hommes jurees.] 1422–61 in Calr. Proc. Chanc. Q. Eliz. (1827) Introd. 22 Vexed in the Sherreves Court..be a pleynte of trespas. 1427 Waterf. Arch. in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 294 That no citsaine..have no delayes in ony playnthe, butt only in an action of dette. 1495 Act 11 Hen. VII, c. 24 §1 Any suyte playnte or demaunde before Justices of Recorde. c 1537 in Leadam Sel. Pl. Crt. Requests (Selden) 47 Seuerall plentes of debt in the name of our souerayn lord the kyng. |
| β c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 313 Þat non thar com no sende to courte to mak eft pleynt. 14.. Customs Malton in Surtees Misc. (1888) 59 Jugement of any playntt for to be gyffen. 1577 Harrison England ii. ix. (1877) i. 202 The parties plaintiffe and defendant..proceed..by plaint or declaration, answer, replication [etc.]. 1768 Blackstone Comm. III. xviii. 273 The foundation of such suits continues to be (as in the times of the Saxons) not by original writ, but by plaint; that is, by a private memorial tendered in open court to the judge, wherein the party injured sets forth his cause of action. 1798 in Dallas Amer. Law Rep. II. 205 The proceedings were drawn up as if it had been a plaint under the landlord and tenant act. 1863 H. Cox Instit. ii. xi. 581 A suit in the county court commences by plaint. |
4. Comb., as † plaint-bruised a., bruised by beating in token of grief.
| 1627 May Lucan ii. 38 But one there Her plaint-brusde armes, and moystned cheekes did teare. |
▪ II. † plaint, v. Obs. (from 16th c., Sc.)
Also 4 pleynt, 5 playnt, 6 Sc. plent.
[f. plaint n.]
1. intr. To make complaint, complain; rarely to make lamentation, lament, wail.
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 3554 He plainted full pitiously, was pyn for to here. Ibid. 8095 Hit pleaside hir priuely, playntyde ho noght. ? a 1500 Chester Pl. x. 392 For to the kinge I will anon To plainte [v.r. playn] upon you all. a 1578 Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) I. 225 Ye sall haue no cause to plent. 1627 W. Sclater Exp. 2 Thess. (1629) 224 Ieremie somewhere bewailes it; somewhere plaints of it. 1715 Pennecuik Truth's Trav. in Descr. Tweeddale etc. 86 Cooks and Kailwives baith refus'd him, Because he plainted of their Dish. 1789 in Jas. Fisher Poems (1790) 89 Ye need na plaint upon your muse. |
2. trans. To cover or fill with complaints. rare—1.
| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus v. 1597 Youre lettres ful þe papir al y-pleynted Conseyued hath mine hertes pite. I haue ek seyn wiþ teres al depeynted Youre lettre. |