▪ I. plait, n.
(pleɪt, plæt, pliːt)
Forms: α. 5–6 playte, 5–7 playt, 6 plaite, 6– plait. β. 5–6 pleyt(e, pleite, 7 pleit. γ. 6 playght, pleyght(e, 6–7 plaight, 6–8 pleight. See also plat n.4, pleat n., plet n.1, plight n.2
[ME. pleyt, playt, a. OF. pleit (Burguy), later ploit (14th c. in Godef.) fold, manner of folding:—late L. *plictum, from plicitum a thing folded, neuter of pa. pple. of plicāre to fold.
For this n. and the vb. the dictionaries generally give the first pronunciation above; but in living English use, the third is usual in sense 1, and the second in sense 2; which amounts to saying that, as a spoken word, plait is obsolete, and supplied in sense 1 by pleat, in sense 2 by plat. The first pronunciation appears however to prevail in U.S.]
1. A fold, crease, or wrinkle. a. A fold of cloth or any similar fabric, esp. a flattened fold or gather made by doubling the material upon itself; = pleat n. 1. (Now generally written pleat, and usually pronounced (pliːt) even when spelt plait.)
| α 14.. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 608/35 Ruga, a wrynkyl, or a playt. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 402/2 Playte, of a clothe, plica, plicatura. 1530 Palsgr. 255/2 Playte of a gowne, ply. a 1550 Christis Kirke Gr. i. ii, Thair kirtillis wer of lynkome licht, Weill prest with mony plaitis [rime gaitis]. 1570 Levins Manip. 203/40 Ye Playt of a cote, plica, ruga. 1687 Randolph Archip. 40 Their stockings are most of red cloth, hanging in plaits. 1756–7 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) I. 158 The multitude of plaits in their gowns. 1814 Moore New Cost. Ministers 15 Every pucker and seam were made matters of State, And a grand Household Council was held on each plait! 1850 D. G. Mitchell Reveries Bachelor 227 And then smoothed down the plaits of her apron. 1884 Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl. 686/2 To change the width of plait, turn the nuts on the curved screw [etc.]. |
| β 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §151 They haue suche pleytes vpon theyr brestes, and ruffes vppon theyr sleues, aboue theyr elbowes. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. iv. iv. 116 A Talbant high topped before deuided with twelue pleites or folds. a 1631 Donne Poems (1650) 121 To judge of lace, pinke, panes, print cut, and pleit [rime conceit]. 1683 Chalkhill Thealma & Cl. 74 Her silk gown..in equal pleits hung down Unto the Earth. |
| γ 1541 Act 33 Hen. VIII, c. 3 The said clothes..shall be folded either in pleightes or cuttelle. 1552 Huloet, Pleyght, sinus... Loke in playght. Ibid. Playght or wrynkle, ruga, rugosus, full of plaightes. a 1586 Sidney Arcadia i. (1622) 51 The neather part full of pleights. 1683 Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing xxiv. ¶10 He laps or Folds..one part of it..into a Plaight. |
b. A fold, wrinkle, or crease in any natural structure,
e.g. in the lip, brow, or ear; in the integuments or membranes of insects or plants; a sinuosity of a coast-line.
| 1592 Davies Immort. Soul Poems (1869) 106 Therfore these plaits and folds the sound restraine, That it the organ may more gently touch. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 113 That towne..stood as it were in a fold, or plait, or nouke thereof. 1754 Richardson Grandison IV. iv. 23 A grave formal young man, his prim mouth set in plaits. 1844 Mrs. Browning Sonn., Apprehension 10, I should fear Some plait between the brows. 1856 Delamer Fl. Gard. (1861) 60 Funkia subcordata has heart-shape leaves, of a bright green, with longitudinal folds or plaits. |
| β, γ 1574 T. Hill Ord. Bees i, Aristotle nameth them pleighted or ringed in that their bodies are deuided with pleights or rings. 1647 R. Stapylton Juvenal 244 In thick pleites his browes are shrunk. 1657 S. Purchas Pol. Flying Ins. i. iii. 6 The hinder part of their bodies is full of ringes, or pleights. |
c. fig. A sinuosity or twist of nature or character; a quirk, a dodge, a trick; a winding, a hidden recess: usually implying artifice or deceit.
Obs. or
arch.| 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xxiv. (Arb.) 299 Oportet iudicem esse rudem et simplicem, without plaite or wrinkle, sower in looke and churlish in speach. 1599 B. Jonson Cynthia's Rev. v. vii, Simplicitie; without folds, without pleights, without counterfeit. 1599 Sandys Europæ Spec. (1632) 124 [To] search so narrowly all the plaits and hidden corners of the Papacie. 1622 Hakewill David's Vow iv. 144 A simple heart,..without pleits and foldes. a 1667 Jer. Taylor Guide Devot. (1719) 123, I do not desire that there should be any Fold, or Pleight, or Corner of it hidden from Thee. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xxi. IV. 581 Two characters..of which he knew all the plaits and windings. |
2. A contexture of three or more interlaced strands of hair, ribbon, straw, or any cord-like substance;
esp. a braided tress of hair, a queue or pigtail; a flat band of plaited straw, grass, or vegetable fibre, for making hats, etc. (Commonly pronounced (plæt), and often spelt
plat: see
plat n.4) Hence
three-plait,
four-plait,
six-plait, etc. (
dial. three-a-plait,
threesome plait, etc.);
single plait, a plait formed by knitting up a single string into a chain of loops, as in chain-stitch; chain-plait.
Brazilian plait, plait made of dried flag-grass, imported from the West Indies or South America.
Leghorn plait: see
Leghorn. See also straw-plait.
| 1530 Palsgr. 255/2 Playtes of a womans heer, tresses; tressure. 17.. Mary Hamilton in Child Ballads (1857) III. 325 But in and cam the Queen hersel, Wi' gowd plait on her hair. 1837 H. Ainsworth Crichton I. 205 The rich auburn hair is gathered in plaits at the top of the head. 1846 M{supc}Culloch Acc. Brit. Empire (1854) I. 317 Rye straw grown in Orkney has been found pretty well fitted to serve as a substitute for the straw used in Italian plait; and the manufacture of this straw into plait was carried on for several years to a considerable extent. 1870 Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. Apr. 243 The most simple shortening for all descriptions of small cords is that known to boys as the single plait, but which seamen know as the chain knot. 1880 C. R. Markham Peruv. Bark xiv. 138 They were fine-looking young fellows, wearing their hair in long plaits down their backs. 1884 Pall Mall G. 30 Sept. 4/1 English ladies purchasing an elegant straw bonnet at the Louvre are not, perhaps, aware that the plait was made by children in Bedfordshire, and the straw put together at Luton. 1905 Westm. Gaz. 8 July 13/2 The paper..is cut into strips and then plaited in a four- or five- or six-plait. |
b. Naut. ‘Strands of rope-yarn twisted into foxes, or braided into sennit’ (Knight).
c. Polish plait, ‘a matted condition of the hair induced by neglect, dirt, and pediculi, common in Poland, Lithuania, and Tartary’ (
Syd. Soc. Lex.,
s.v. Plica polonica): see
plica 1.
| 1875 Sir W. Turner in Encycl. Brit. I. 812/2 He described the state of the hair when affected with Polish plait. |
3. attrib. and
Comb., as
plait-like adj.;
plait-dance, a dance in which the participants hold ribbons, which are plaited and unplaited in the course of their evolutions; a ribbon-dance;
plait-net, a kind of machine-made lace;
plait-stitch,
= plaited stitch;
plait-work, a decorative pattern, of a kind frequent in ancient and mediæval art, in the form of interlacing or plaited bands.
| 1887 Pall Mall G. 5 Jan. 7/1 Native dancing girls go through the well-known and much admired evolutions commonly called the *plait dance. |
| 1901 Lady's Realm X. 617/1 The stitches cross in the middle, and the *plait-like appearance is attained. |
| 1844 G. Dodd Textile Manuf. vii. 229 In ‘fancy broad-net’ the device as well as the groundwork are made at the machine. In ‘*plait-net’ the same thing is observable, and also in ‘tatting-net’. |
| 1901 Lady's Realm X. 616 *Plait-stitch. |
| 1899 Baring-Gould Book West II. 43 The transition from *plaitwork to knotwork took place in Italy between 563 and 774. |
▪ II. plait, v. (
pleɪt,
plæt,
pliːt)
Forms: see
prec. n.; also
plat v.
3,
pleat v.,
plet v.,
plight v.
2 [f. plait n., where see note on pronunciation.] 1. trans. To fold (a woven or other fabric, etc.);
esp. to fold flat, to double; to gather in pleats;
= pleat v. 1, and now commonly pronounced (
pliːt).
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. v. 212 To broche hem with a pak⁓nedle And plaited [v.rr. playte, plytyd, plyghted; A. pleted, pleit] hem togyderes. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 402/2 Playtyn, plico. 1571 Campion Hist. Irel. vi. (1633) 18 With wide hanging sleeves playted. 1714 Gay Sheph. Week Tuesday 36 Will she with huswife's hand provide thy meat, And every Sunday morn thy neckcloth plait? 1732 Acc. Workhouses 153 Taylors are only employ'd to cut out their mantua's and plait them. 1802 M. Edgeworth Moral T. (1816) I. xvi. 139 Asked the washerwoman if she had plaited her cap. 1824 W. Irving T. Trav. I. 188 [He] wore his shirt frill plaited and puffed out..at the bosom. |
| β c 1440 Y-pleite; 1467 pleytid [see plaited 1]. 1611 Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. vi. vii. §18. 67 Wearing a kirtle therunder very thick pleited. |
| γ 1538 Elyot, Sinuo..it is also applyed to garmentes that are pleyghted or gathered vp. 1552 Huloet, Pleyght or folde a garment, sinuo. 1613 J. May Declar. Est. Clothing v. 26 Hauing the clothes pleighted and bound together with threds. 1657 Beck Univ. Char. I vij b, To plaight. |
† b. By extension, To fold, bend, double up; to wrinkle, knit (the brows).
Obs.| a 1440 Sir Degrev. 326 Wyth scharpe exus of stelle He playtede here basnetus welle. 1570 Levins Manip. 204/1 To Playt a nayle, replicare. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. ii. ix. 81 Some..seem farre older then they are, and plait and set their brows in an affected sadnesse. |
2. To braid or intertwine (hair, straw, rushes, narrow ribbons, etc.) so as to form a plait, band, or rope (
plait n. 2);
= plat v.
3 1, and now commonly pronounced (plæt).
| 1582 N. T. (Rhem.) 1 Pet. iii. 3 Let it not be outwardly the plaiting of heare. 1611 Bible ibid, That outward adorning, of plaiting the haire. 1611 Coryat Crudities 386 Their haire..they plait it in two very long locks that hang downe ouer their shoulders halfe a yard long. 1831 Scott Cast. Dang. ii, The little wild boy..who used to run about and plait rushes some twenty years ago. 1841 Lane Arab. Nts. I. 122 An hour or more is occupied by the process of plaiting the hair. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. ii. i, Little Margery..who plaited straw. |
| γ 1589 Greene Menaphon (Arb.) 76 Hir lockes are pleighted like the fleece of wooll. 1703 Savage Lett. Antients liii. 135 If thou pleightedst thy Hair with one hand, thou wouldst be sure to handle my Purse with the other. |
b. fig. To interweave (things immaterial).
| 1387–8 [see plaited 3]. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. i. ii. 31 When devotion is thus artificially plaited into houres it may take up mens minds in formalities. Ibid. v. vii. 386 Till one unexpected counterblast of Fortune ruffled, yea blew away, all his projects so curiously plaited. |
c. To felt, mat.
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., Plaiting, the interweaving of the felted hairs, forming a hat-body by means of pressure, motion, moisture, and heat. |
d. To make (a braid, garland, mat, etc.) by plaiting.
| 1877 A. B. Edwards Up Nile xi. 297 Plaiting mats and baskets of stained reeds. |
† 3. To twist, to cross. (Of one or two things.)
a. trans. b. intr.| a. 1616 in Dalyell Darker Superst. Scotl. (1834) 448 [She] past the boundis of hir ground, and thair sat doun plaiting hir feit betuix the merchis. |
| b. 17.. in Evans Old Ball. (1784) III. 175 The worm leapt up, the worm leapt down, She plaited round the stone. 1799 J. Robertson Agric. Perth 540 A too quick growing of the hoofs, which plaited under his feet and made him lame. |