▪ I. † plead, n. Chiefly Sc. Obs.
Forms: (3 plaid), 5–6 (Sc.) pled, plede, pleid, 6 (Eng.) plead, -e, (Sc.) plaid.
[f. plead v.; perh. in part a reminiscence of OF. and early ME. plaid, rare byform of plait: see plea n.]
1. A suit or action at law; a controversy, dispute; = plea n. 1, 3.
| [a 1250 Plaid: see plea n. 1.] 14.. Wyntoun's Cron. viii. iv. 440 Quhare thar is in pleid [v.r. pley] twa men Askand the Crowne off a kynrike. c 1470 Henry Wallace x. 104 He..maid Stewart with hym to fall in pled. c 1470 Henryson Mor. Fab. vi. (Sheep & Dog) xiii, And thair began the pleid. 1561 T. Hoby tr. Castiglione's Courtyer iv. (1577) Y iij, Bycause the pleade betweene you maye happen bee to long. 1567 Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.) 149, I fand the loste from blis, Throuch Adamis sin and pleid. 1581 Marbeck Bk. of Notes, 269 The matter..is in plead. |
2. A plea, allegation, claim.
| 1456 Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 208 To ask resoun and move plede before him..suld be small redress, and bot ane unproufitable plede. 1560 Rolland Crt. Venus iii. 863 Quhairthrow we all was quite of Plutois pleid. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 307 The foundation of your pleade is so fallen, y{supt} I nede not to answere thy protestation. |
3. Pleading, harangue, speech, talk, discussion.
| c 1450 Holland Howlat 818 The barde held a grete pleid In the hie hall. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xlvi. 115 Thir birdis..Singing of lufe amang the levis small, Quhois ythand pleid ȝit maid my thochtis grene. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 494 Thus endit scho that first begouth that pleid. 15.. Freiris of Berwik 256 in Dunbar's Poems (S.T.S.) 294 Ga fill the stowp, hald me no mair in pleid, For I am verry tyrit, wett and cauld. 1573 Satir. Poems Reform xl. 197 How he suld fend from furie and thair fead, Syne leaue this lyfe with list for all thair plaid. |
4. attrib., as plead-house = plea-house: see plea n. 7.
| 1459 Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 270 A plede that is maid before a juge ordynare in a plede hous. |
▪ II. plead, v.
(pliːd)
Forms: α. 3–4 plaide(n, plaid-i, 3–6 playde, 4 plede(n, 4–7 plede (5 pledde, plide, 5–7 pled), 6 pleade (pleed), 6–7 Sc. pleid, 6– plead. pa. tense and pple. pleaded: contracted 5 pladde, (9 dial. plad), 5– pled (orig. Sc. and dial.), 7–9 plead. β. 4 pleit-y, pleyte, playt-y, playte, pleten, -yn, 4–6 plete, 5–6 pleete, 6 pleate.
[In ME. form plaiden, plaidi, a. OF. plaid-ier (Roland, 11th c.) to go to law, sue, plead, f. OF. plaid: see plea n.; parallel to med.L. placitāre, to hold pleas, to litigate (c 800 in Du Cange), f. placitum plea; thence AF. pleder, ME. plêde(n, plead. ME. plaiten, plaity, plêten, plete was a secondary form, corresp. to OF. plaitier (14th c. in Godef.): cf. also med.L. plaitāre (9th c. in Du Cange) from placitāre, and OF. and ME. plait n., for plaid, plea. Cf. the later plea v.]
I. Intransitive uses.
† 1. a. To raise or prosecute a suit or action, to go to law, to litigate. Obs.
| α [1292 Britton iii. i. §1 La manere de pleder, coment chescun pleyntif deit repurchacer sa seisine de fraunc tenement.] 1442 Rolls of Parlt. V. 45/1 Able to purchace Londes..and also plede and be empleded. 1523 Fitzherb. Surv. xi. (1539) 17 Shall nat plede nor be impleded of their tenementes. |
| β c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 348 Freris..moven londis to bateilis, and pesible persones to plete. a 1400–50 Alexander 78 He..sawe two men of þe same towne bifore a iuge pletyng. a 1500 in Arnolde's Chron. 34 Ye shal not pleete w{supt} noo freman of the Cite w{supt}out the cite. 1529 More Dyaloge ii. Wks. 184/1 Rather than thei shoulde pleate and striue in the law before the infidels. a 1550 Merch. & Son 42 in Hazl. E.P.P. I. 135 Thou schalt be pletyd with, when y am gon. |
† b. In extended and fig. use: To contend in debate; to wrangle, argue with, against. Also to plead it. Obs.
| α a 1250 Owl & Night. 184 We mawe bet..Wiþvte cheste and bute vyhte Playde [v.r. plaidi] mid soþe & mid ryhte. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems lix. 5 Sen he plesis with me to pleid, I sall him knawin mak hyne to Calyss. 1557 N.T. (Genev.) Rom. ix. 20 Who art thou which playdest against God? 1560 Rolland Crt. Venus ii. 306 Quhat than, gif thay of my craft with me pleid? 1593 G. Harvey Pierce's Super. Wks. (Grosart) II. 42 Come..you that loue to pleade it out inuincibly at the barre of the dunghill, and will rather loose your liues, then the last word. |
| β c 1315 Shoreham Poems vii. 723 Ich schal makye contekhede By-tuyce þyne and wyues sede, And moche to pleity. 1388 Wyclif Judg. xxi. 22 Whanne the fadris and britheren..bigynne to pleyne and plete [1382 chiden] aȝens ȝou. 1535 Coverdale Job xvi. 21 Though a body might pleate with God, as one man doth with another. |
2. a. To address the court as an advocate on behalf of either party; to maintain or urge the claim, or state the case, of a party to a suit.
| α c 1305 St. Kath. 77 in E.E.P. (1862) 92 Gret schame..An Emperour to siche aboute:..After maistres, to plaidi aȝen a ȝung wenche. c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 24 Sendynge of men..of lawe..bi here owen persones for to plede. 1455 Cal. Anc. Rec. Dublin (1889) I. 288 No man of lawe schold pled befor Mayre and Baylyfys of the sayde citte. 1581 Mulcaster Positions xxxix. (1887) 202 The first and chiefe..in law among lawyers though he do not pleade. 1596 Spenser F.Q. v. ix. 43 And with him..came Many grave persons that against her pled. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxvi. 145 Sentences..to be taken by them that plead, for Lawes in that particular case. 1776 Gibbon Decl. & F. xvi. (1869) I. 397 He had pleaded with distinction in the tribunals of Rome. |
| β 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. vii. 39 Men of lawe..þat pleteden for Mede. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) III. 201 Þat day þat he pletede to fore a inge. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. ccxxxii. (1482) 248 It was ordeyned that men of lawe fro that tyme forth shold plete in hir moder tonge. 1502 Ord. Crysten Men (W. de W. 1506) iii. iii. 160 He pleated by thre yeres in the grete assyse in the cyte of Bourgeys. |
b. In extended and fig. use: To urge a suit or prayer; to make an earnest appeal, entreaty, or supplication; to beg, implore. Const. with the person appealed to; for the thing desired, or the person in whose interest one speaks; also against.
| α 1390 Gower Conf. III. 155 Bot thogh him lacke forto plede, Him lacketh nothing of manhede. 1624 Quarles Job xi. 60 Let me, a while, with my Accusers plead [rime dead]. 1662 in Cosin's Corr. (Surtees) II. 313 My Lord hath been..plead with for something for him to keepe him here. 1721 Ramsay Content 374 My mind, indulgent, in their favour pled. 1757 Smollett Reprisal ii. v, Tho' silent his tongue, he will plead with his eyes. 1757 Home Douglas iii, We search'd his clothes, And found these jewels, whose rich value plead Most powerfully against him. 1837 Whittier in Life (1894) I. 199 We have caucused in season and out of season, threatened and coaxed, plead and scolded. 1838 Lytton Alice i. x, Do not scorn to plead for me. 1869 Freeman Norm. Conq. III. xii. 158 All Roger's services could not plead against this ill-timed tenderness to a foe. 1871 Ibid. IV. xvii. 42 His skill doubtless pleaded for him. 1882 J. H. Blunt Ref. Ch. Eng. II. 197 It does not appear that any one pleaded for his pardon except himself. 1932 E. Wilson Devil take Hindmost xii. 126 Irma went to his boss and pled with him. 1932 ‘J. Aston’ They winter Abroad xii. 192 The shades of Rugby and Caius, or wherever it was that he had been bred to be a Hawk, pled against him mutely. 1941 E. R. Eddison Fish Dinner vii. 103 Should a been unlorded long since,..but the Vicar pled for him. 1943 S. Lewis G. Planish xxxi. 407 I've pled with them. |
| β 1340 Ayenb. 99 Loke hou..Iesu crist..þe tekþ wel to playty. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus ii. 1419 (1468) Be [ye] nought war how fals Polyphete Is now abowte eft soones for to plete. c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 114 Medefulli plete wiþ men. |
3. To put forward a plea. Cf. pleading vbl. n. 3. a. To put forward any allegation or formal statement forming part of the proceedings in an action at law. (Cf. plea n. 2 a.) plead over: see quots. 1872, 1890.
| 1444 Rolls of Parlt. V. 112/1 Yef.. the Defendauntz or Pleintifs in suche foreign Plees plede to issue. 1683 Grimstone Croke's Rep. (1791) III. 651 (Case 20 Jac. I, 1623) His plea in bar is not answered when he doth rely upon it, but pleads over in bar. 1824 H. J. Stephen Princ. Pleading (1843) 160 Faults in pleading are, in some cases, aided by pleading over. 1872 Wharton's Law Lex. 739/1 Plead over, to follow up an opponent's pleading by replying, etc., so overlooking some defect to which exception might have been taken. 1875 Judicature Act O. xxvii. r. 5 When any party has amended his pleading under rule 2 or 3 of this Order, the other party may apply..for leave to plead or amend his former pleading. 1890 Cent. Dict., Pleading over, going on to respond by pleading, after a previous pleading has been judged insufficient, or has been withdrawn. |
b. esp. To put forward an answer or objection on the part of the defendant to the plaintiff's bill. (Cf. plea n. 2 b.)
| 14.. Rolls of Parlt. V. 396/1 Provided also that that Act stop not ne conclude the said Thomas..to answer or plede to eny matier abovesaid. 1477 Ibid. VI. 187/2 They may answere and plede to the action, or in abatement of the pleyntes. 1490–1 Cal. Anc. Rec. Dublin (1889) I. 371 To pledde to a quest in lyke wise in ther owne persones. 1681 Dryden Span. Friar v. ii, He will not hear me out!.. Was ever criminal forbid to plead? 1727 Wodrow Corr. (1843) III. 299 The Assembly desired him to propound what he had to say against their being his judges... Then his two lawyers, Mr Grant and Mr Murray, pled upon that head. 1796 Burke Let. Noble Ld. Wks. VIII. 8, I ought to be allowed a reasonable freedom,..and no culprit ought to plead in irons. 1824 H. J. Stephen Princ. Pleading (1885) 50 If the defendant does not demur, his only alternative method of defence is, to oppose or answer the declaration by matter of fact. In so doing he is said to plead. |
II. Transitive uses.
† 4. To go to law with, sue (a person). Obs. rare.
| β 1382 Wyclif Isa. lviii. 3 Alle ȝoure detoures ȝee pleten [1388 ȝe axen [Vulg. repetitis] alle ȝoure dettouris]. a 1500 in Arnolde's Chron. 5 b, We haue graunted to our citezens of london that none of them pleete [pr. pletee] othor wythout the wallis of london. |
5. To maintain (a plea or cause) by argument in a court of law. Also transf.
| α [1292 Britton i. i. § 7 Qe des pletz pledez devaunt eux..eynt record. Ibid. §8 A pleder communs pletz.] 1482 Monk of Evesham (Arb.) 77 He was to many that pledyd her causis of god consciens a vyolent oppressur. 1551 Robinson tr. More's Utop. ii. vii. (1895) 235 They thinke it most mete that euery man shuld pleade his owne matter, and tell the same tale before the iudge, that he would tel to his man of lawe. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 235 The Prince sent two of his counsellours..to playde the case. c 1586 C'tess Pembroke Ps. lxxiv. xxi, Rise, God, pleade thyne owne case. 1675 Prideaux Lett. (Camden) 36 Our law case is not yet ended; four advocates come down from D{supr}{sups} Commons to plead it next term. 1777 W. Cameron in Sc. Paraphr. xvii. vi, Plead the widow's cause. 1814 Scott Ld. of Isles iv. xiv, Anxious his suit Lord Ronald pled. 1929 R. S. Lynd Middletown ii. x. 122 It is not intended here to take the conventional forms under which divorce cases are pled as anything more than very roughly suggesting. |
| β c 1450 Godstow Reg. 100 One acre of mede..whereof hit was I-pleted bitwene them in the forsaid Courte. 1484 Caxton Fables of Alfonce ix, They remytted the cause to be discuted or pleted before the Juge. 1539 Bible (Great) Job xxiii. 3 O that I myght come before his seate, to pleate my cause before him. 1550 Bale Image Both Ch. 85 It is Christes onely office to receyue all complayntes to pleate them and to iudge them. |
6. To sue for in a court of law. Also transf. to beg, entreat for. In later use chiefly Sc.
| α 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 1304, I schal kysse at your comaundement, as a knyȝt fallez, And fire lest he displese yow, so plede hit no more. 1594 Marlow & Nashe Dido i. ii, That crave such favour..As poor distressed misery may plead. 1637–50 Row Hist. Kirk (Wodrow Soc.) 190 If a minister throw povertie be not able to plead his gleeb and manse, that the rest assist him by contributing till he evict it. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 46 ¶6 The Misery of my Case, and great Numbers of such Sufferers, plead your Pity and speedy Relief. 1811 Chalmers Diary in Life (1850) I. 231 Had been apprized..that my augmentation was to be pled on the 18th. |
| β c 1500 New Not-br. Mayd 66 Mercy I pleate. |
7. a. To allege formally in the course of the pleadings. (Cf. plea n. 2 a.)
| α c 1460 Godstow Reg. 120 A Charter of Stephyn Agothe, I-pleyd in the kyngis Courte, for a tenemente in Irelandes lane. 1491 Act 7 Hen. VII, c. 2 §1 Courtes where the seid proteccions shalbe pleded or leyed for any of the seid persons in all plees, plees of Dowre..except. 1765 Blackstone Comm. Introd. 76 All other private customs must be particularly pleaded. 1890 Law Reports 24 Q.B.D. 630 The paragraph was properly pleaded and ought not to be struck out. |
| β 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. vii. (1520) 83/1 That no letter nor commaundement that came from Rome shold be receyued nor pleted in Englande. |
b. To allege formally as a plea (plea n. 2 b). plead specially, to allege as a special plea (plea n. 2 c).
| 1531 Dial. on Laws Eng. ii. liii. (1638) 159 If the defendant..in any action plead a plee that amounteth to the general issue. 1602 W. Fulbecke 1st Pt. Parall. 72 This ple he was enforced to pled by the court. 1659 H. L'Estrange Alliance Div. Off. 22 St. Augustine plead it in bar to Celer's action of unkindnesse against him. 1756 Hume Hist. Eng. (1812) II. xxxvi. 286 The counsellors pleaded constraint as an excuse for their treason. 1768 Blackstone Comm. III. xx. 305 Every defence which cannot thus be specially pleaded may be given in evidence upon the general issue at the trial. 1769 Ibid. IV. xxvi. 336 A pardon may be pleaded in bar. 1817 W. Selwyn Law Nisi Prius (ed. 4) II. 753 An executor may plead the same plea in bar, that his testator might have pleaded. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xxxii, Ramorny, pale as death,..pled his knighthood, and demanded the privilege of dying by the sword. 1863 H. Cox Instit. i. v. 30 It would be vain to plead..the king's command to do an unlawful act. 1875 Judicature Act O. xix. r. 15 No defendant in an action for the recovery of land who is in possession..need plead his title. |
c. In extended and fig. use: To allege or urge as a plea, esp. in defence, apology, or excuse, or as extenuating an offence. Freq. with direct speech as object.
| 1601 Holland Pliny xviii. xxvii. 593 Thou shouldest not either plead ignorance, or neglect the same. 1621 T. Williamson tr. Goulart's Wise Vieillard 101 Old age is miserable, that can plead nothing else for Antiquitie, but the wrinckles of the face and the white haires. 1671 Milton Samson 833 If weakness may excuse, What Murtherer,..Incestuous, Sacrilegious, but may plead it? 1709 Pope Ess. Crit. 166 And have, at least, their precedent to plead. 1733 Berkeley Th. Vision §33 If I am mistaken, I can plead neither haste nor inattention. 1820 W. Irving Sketch Bk. I. 256, I can only plead my inexperience in this branch of literature. 1910 E. M. Forster Howards End xxvii. 235 ‘Don't you worry,’ he pleaded. ‘I can't bear that. We shall be all right if I get work. If I could only get work—something regular to do.’ 1952 M. Laski Village xiii. 187 ‘I'm really sorry,’ pleaded Margaret contritely. 1955 W. Gaddis Recognitions i. v. 198 Is your name really Adeline? he pled. 1974 E. S. Gruen Last Generation Roman Republic viii. 327 Gabinius pled that his Egyptian adventure was in the interests of state. 1976 B. Freemantle November Man viii. 108 ‘Stop it, Hannah,’ he pleaded urgently. |
d. Phrase. to plead not guilty (in civil and criminal law), to deny liability or guilt: in Law-French, plaider de rien coupable. So to plead guilty; also fig. to confess to an accusation or imputation. Also ellipt. plead, in sense ‘to plead guilty’.
to plead guilty appears later, and evidently arose in imitation of plead not guilty. Guilty is technically not a plea, but a confession. Blackstone Comm. IV. 324, 332, 399, never uses plead guilty, but writes of the prisoner confessing the fact.
| [1344 Year Bk. 18 Edw. III 4 Et quant a les bienz..il pleda de rien coupable.] 1454 Rolls of Parlt. V. 239/2 In the Court of th' Eschequer..the seid Thomas..to the said Bille and Action aunswered and pleted not gylty. 1681 Trial S. Colledge 6 Cl. of Cr. You must plead to the Court, Guilty or not Guilty. 1802–12 Bentham Ration. Judic. Evid. Wks. 1843 VI. 473 Where it happens to a prisoner to answer in the affirmative—in appropriate language, to plead guilty—if he insists on it, the general understanding seems to be that he has a right to have such his plea recorded: in which case there is a necessary end of the trial, and the verdict follows of course. 1806 Med. Jrnl. XV. 60, I may..be represented as discouraging experiments. To this I must, in some measure, plead guilty. 1875 Judicature Act O. xix. r. 16 Nothing in these Rules contained shall affect the right of any defendant to plead not guilty by statute. 1892 ‘D. Donovan’ In Grip of Law 58 When called upon to plead, she pled not guilty in a firm clear voice. 1959 Jowitt Dict. Eng. Law II. 1352/1 The word ‘plead’ is used colloquially to mean plead guilty. 1963 J. Prescot Case for Hearing vii. 109 The reek of spirits..met me like a wave... Dr. Depree depressed his right thumb. ‘You'll have to plead to this one.’ Ibid. viii. 119, I'll stake my pension on a conviction. In fact, if the lad's any sense he'll hold up his hand and plead. 1970 P. Laurie Scotland Yard vi. 137 Said he'd plead, then when he got in the box he gave you a grin and said, ‘Not guilty’. |
† 8. To argue or dispute upon in a court of law; to practise (the law). Obs.
| 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. Prol. 86 Seriauns..to seruen atte Barre; Pleden [v.r. pleten] for pons and poundes þe lawe. 1529 More Dyaloge i. Wks. 158/1 Thei..that longed to lerne the lawe. Not to plete it and for glory to dispute it, but to teche it agayne mekely. 1577 Harrison England ii. i. (1877) i. 28 The canon law..which is dailie pleaded. |
Hence ˈpleaded ppl. a., uttered or alleged in pleading; pleaded-for, defended by pleading.
| 1668 H. More Div. Dial. iv. xxxi. (1713) 380 Do you see, Cuphophron, whither your pleaded-for Impostures carry, even to savage Murther and Blood-shed? 1725 Pope Odyss. i. 321 She seems attentive to their pleaded vows. 1754 Richardson Grandison V. xiv. 105 We shall now see what the so often pleaded for dignity of your sex, will enable you to do. 1850 J. S. B. Monsell Parish Musings (1871) 40 Yield to thine own pleaded word. |