▪ I. plet, n.1 Chiefly Sc. and north. dial.
[Collateral form of plait n., going with plet v.]
= plait n.
| c 1450 Trevisa's Barth. De P.R. v. lxvi. (Bodl. MS.), Þe plettes of wommanes heere bene ykutte and ybounde with laces. 1595 Duncan App. Etymol. (E.D.S.), Lacinia, a plet, or rag. 1641 Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 16 Fold-hankes or hankinges..which is as thicke againe as plough-string, being a loose kinde of two plettes. 1828 Craven Gloss. (ed. 2), Pletts, folds or gathers of linen. Ibid., Plet, work performed by platting. |
▪ II. ‖ plet, n.2
(plɛt)
Also plete, plitt.
[a. Russ. plet{supi} scourge, whip.]
A three-thonged whip loaded with lead, formerly used for flogging in Russia.
| 1864 Webster, Plitt, an instrument of punishment or torture resembling the knout, used in Russia. 1870 ‘W. M. Cooper’ Flagellation & Flagellants xxvi. 259 The plêt is a whip made of strips of raw hide, and having three lashes tipped with small leaden balls. 1885 A. Griffiths in Encycl. Brit. XIX. 762/2 There is another flagellator,..called the plete, a whip of twisted hide,..retained at a few of the most distant Siberian prisons. |
▪ III. plet, v. Chiefly Sc. and north. dial.
pa. tense plet(t, plat; pa. pple. plet(t; also pletted.
[Collateral form of plait v., going with plet n.1]
1. trans. To intertwine (strands) so as to form one combined texture; = plait v. 2; also to form (a garland, band, or the like) by this process; = plait v. 2 d. Also in mod. dial. to cross (the legs); = plait v. 3.
| c 1450 Trevisa's Barth. De P.R. v. lxvi. (Bodl. MS.), Wymmenes heere is..ipletted [W. de W. 1495 pleted] and ybounde with laces. c 1450 Mirour Saluacioun 4619 A corovne of sharpest thornes mayde thyne Enemys plettyng. c 1470 Henryson Mor. Fab. viii. (Preach. Swallow) xlii, The feind plettis his nettis scharpe and rude. 1513 Douglas æneis ix. ii. 64 The wyld wolf..Abowt the bowght, plet all of wandis tyght, Bayis and gyrnis. a 1600 Montgomerie Misc. Poems xix. 5 A garland properly sho plets, To set vpon hir heid. 1600 Fairfax Tasso xiv. lxviii, Of woodbines, lillies, and of roses sweete,..All pletted fast, well knit, and ioyned meete. 1725 Ramsay Gentle Sheph. ii. iv, For thee I plet the flow'ry belt and snood. 1828 Craven Gloss. (ed. 2), Plet, to plat. 1839 J. M. Wilson Tales of Borders V. 251/2 He plets his legs, and passes his hand along his leg. 1903 In E.D.D. from Shetland to North Lincolnsh. |
† 2. To fold; to fold in one's arms. Obs.
| c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. ix. xxvii. 3258 Wyth blyth chere thare he hym plet In [his] armis so thankfully. 1513 Douglas æneis xiii. xi. 4 Bayth hir armys abowt hys feit [scho] plet, Enbrasyng thame and kyssand reuerently. 1536 Bellenden Cosmogr. xi, Thir salmond..spawnis, with thair wamis plet to uthir. c 1560 A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) xxviii. 8 Quhen þat I went with þat sweit may,..And oft tymes in my armis plet hir. |
† 3. To bind, tie up, make fast. Obs.
| 1560 Rolland Crt. Venus iv. 364 To se his handis into ane cord thus plet. 1585 James VI Ess. Poesie (Arb.) 37, I had farr rather Babell tower forthsett, Then the thre Grecian hilles on others plett. |
4. mod. dial. To fold, to wrinkle.
| 1861 Quinn Heather (1863) 123 Care in wan wrinkles deeply plettin' Nell's bonnie face. |
Hence plet ppl. a., plaited, intertwined.
| 1503 Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. II. 231 Vj elne braid ribanes to be ane plet suord belt to the King. 1508 Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen 15 Throw pykis of the plet thorne I presandlie luikit. |
▪ IV. plet
obs. f. plate.