▪ I. pleat, n.
(pliːt)
Also 5 plete, 6–7 pleate.
[A collateral form of plait n. (app. akin to the β forms there): cf. OF. plet a fold (in Godef.).
This form of the n. appears to have become obsolete in the 17th c.; it is absent from the 17th, 18th, and early 19th c. dictionaries, and reappears only in those of the late 19th c. (e.g., Annandale's Ogilvie, Cassell) with a cross-reference to Plait. But as a spoken word it was in use in the 18th c., for Walker 1791 s.v. Plait says ‘There is a corrupt pronunciation of this word, as if written plete, which must be carefully avoided’. This pronunciation has not only asserted itself, but in the latter part of the 19th c. caused the restoration of the spelling pleat in sense 1.]
1. A fold of cloth or drapery; now esp. one of a series of folds by which the edge of a skirt or other loose drapery is regularly and symmetrically taken in, so as to be attached to a band or the like, while the unattached part hangs full; = plait n. 1. box-pleat: see box n.2 24.
| 1581 J. Derricke Image Irel. ii. E iij b, Their shirtes..With pleates on pleates thei pleated are, as thicke as pleates maie lye. 1625 Purchas Pilgrims II. ix. xix. 1658 They carrie it..alwaies about in the pleats of their Girdle. 1681 W. Robertson Phraseol. Gen. (1693) 617 A fold or pleat, plica. 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. 194/2 Doctor John Bridgman late Bishop of Chester..wore his Bishops Hat all covered in pleats with Taffaty, from whence he was vulgarly termed John with the Taffaty Hat. 1883 [see box n.2 24]. 1884 G. Allen Philistia I. 49 The peacock-blue [dress] with the satin box-pleats. 1887 J. Ashby-Sterry Lazy Minstrel (1892) 28 A snowy skirt, all frill and pleat. |
| fig. 1593 Shakes. Lucr. 93 Hiding base sin in pleats of Maiestie. 1902 Cornish Naturalist Thames 178 The water..forms a ripple above each ridge; and from the everlasting throb of these pleats of running water the sunlight flashes as if from a moving river of diamonds. |
† 2. A plait of hair or cord: = plait n. 2. Obs. (or ? dial.)
| 1495 Trevisa's Barth. De P.R. v. lxvi. 183 The pletes [Bodley MS. c 1450 plettes] of wymmens heer ben knytte and bounde wyth laces. 1605 Drayton Man in Moone 77 Her Hayre tuck'd up in many a curious pleate. 1613 W. Browne Brit. Past. ii. v, She pinckes the hayre, and working them in pleat [etc.]. |
Hence ˈpleatless a., without pleats, unpleated.
| 1898 Blackw. Mag. Jan. 28/1 Tartans with..pleatless kilts on them. 1898 Westm. Gaz. 11 Nov. 2/2 The upper skirt..with its circular cut, fitting pleatless round the hips. |
▪ II. pleat, v.
(pliːt)
Also 4–6 plete, (4 pleit).
[A collateral form of plait v. (app. akin to the β forms there), going with pleat n.
Like the n. pleat, the vb. appears to have become practically obs. by 1700, after which the only examples are dialectal in sense 2, till late in the 19th c., in which the vb., like the n., was restored in sense 1. Like the n., it was certainly much earlier in spoken use in this sense, and although ignored in the dictionaries may have been current from the 17th c. onward.]
1. trans. To fold (cloth, etc.); now esp. to gather (loose or flowing drapery) into pleats or regular folds fixed in position at the edge; = plait v. 1.
| 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. v. 126, I..Brochede hem with a pak-neelde and pletede [v.r. pleit; B. plaited, playte, plytyd, plyghted] hem togedre. 1547 Boorde Introd. Knowl. ix. (1870) 149 Theyr mantles of say, gadryd & pleted mouch like after nonnes fashyon. 1570 B. Googe Pop. Kingd. ii. 26 A linnen vesture wondrous white, and pleated here and there. 1632 J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Eromena 52 A gown..pleated and crisped about the necke. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. ii. 92 The sleeves..are much longer, and therefore they pleat them that they may not hang over the Wrists. 1864 Webster. Pleat, to plait or double in narrow folds. See Plait. 1879 Sala Paris herself again (1880) II. xii. 181 A pretty young Dutchwoman who could not pleat her..ruff to her satisfaction. |
| fig. 1605 Shakes. Lear i. i. 283 (Qo.) Time shall vnfold what pleated [1623 Fol. plighted] cunning hides. 1714 C. Johnson Country Lasses iv. ii, Verily thou hast well unfolded thy message: now pleat it up carefully again. 1900 Doyle Gt. Boer War xv. 253 The ground in front of him was pleated into long folds. |
2. To plait (hair, a garland, etc.): = plait v. 2. Obs. exc. dial.
| 1483 Cath. Angl. 284/1 To Plete, jntricare,..plectere. 1575–85 Abp. Sandys Serm. (Parker Soc.) 310 The hair, which before had been..coloured, pleated, and bordered. 1658 Sir T. Browne Gard. Cyrus ii, The Triumphal..Crowns..were pleated after this order. c 1704 Prior Henry & Emma 606 I'll weave Her Garlands; and I'll pleat Her Hair. 1897 Calder Poems (Berwicksh.) 91 (E.D.D.) We pleated wreaths o' varied hues, to bind our lassie's hair. (In dialects from Cumbld. to E. Yorksh.: see E.D.D.) |
Hence ˈpleated ppl. a.; ˈpleating vbl. n.
accordion-pleated, pleated (by machinery) with very fine equal single pleats; knife-pleated, pleated by hand with a blade of a knife (or by a machine producing the same result).
| 1483 Cath. Angl. 284/1 Pletyd, jntricatus, jnvolutus. Ibid., A Pletynge, jntricatura. 1605 [see 1 fig.]. 1881 Truth 19 May 686/2 The train is of pleated sky-blue satin. 1895 Outing (U.S.) XXVI. 52/2 A greyhound's stomach almost equals an accordian pleated skirt in expansiveness. 1904 Daily Chron. 23 Sept. 8/3 Pipings, and pleatings of velvet. 1905 Ibid. 29 May 8/5 In the case of a linen gown..it would be as well to do without the knife-pleated frills. |
▪ III. pleat, -e
obs. ff. plead v.