ply
1to work with or at diligently; employ busily; use: to ply the needle.
to carry on, practice, or pursue busily or steadily: to ply a trade.
to treat with or apply to (something) repeatedly (often followed by with): to ply a fire with fresh fuel.
to assail persistently: to ply horses with a whip.
to supply with or offer something pressingly to: to ply a person with drink.
to address (someone) persistently or urgently, as with questions, solicitations, etc.; importune.
to pass over or along (a river, stream, etc.) steadily or on a regular basis: boats that ply the Mississippi.
to run or travel regularly over a fixed course or between certain places, as a boat, bus, etc.
to perform one's work or office busily or steadily: to ply with the oars; to ply at a trade.
Origin of ply
1Other words for ply
Other words from ply
- ply·ing·ly, adverb
Words Nearby ply
Other definitions for ply (2 of 2)
a thickness or layer.
Automotive. a layer of reinforcing fabric for a tire.
British Dialect. to bend, fold, or mold.
Obsolete. to bend, incline, or yield.
Origin of ply
2Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use ply in a sentence
Another aspect of Build Bronzeville is a neighborhood marketplace called Boxville, consisting of colorful, repurposed shipping containers where small businesses can ply their wares.
A community renaissance on Chicago’s South Side | Katie McLean | December 18, 2020 | MIT Technology ReviewOften this is because the material itself is not strong enough to be suitable for single-ply construction.
Best sheets: Choose the right bed linens for a good night’s sleep | Carsen Joenk | December 18, 2020 | Popular-ScienceThey do this by associating the thread count to the ply of the sheet.
Best sheets: Choose the right bed linens for a good night’s sleep | Carsen Joenk | December 18, 2020 | Popular-ScienceThey home in on upcoming changes to Apple’s iOS 14 operating system that will curb the ability of companies like Facebook to gather data about users and ply them with targeted advertising.
She plied him with all the flavors of Gatorade, Smartwater and Ensure she could find, but he drank very little.
A rural S.D. community ignored the virus for months. Then people started dying. | Annie Gowen | December 9, 2020 | Washington Post
All too often, we conventional physicians dismiss patients with unusual complaints or simply ply them with medicines.
OSI wanted her to ply the waitress with questions about drug sales.
Spies, Lies, and Rape in the Air Force: An Undercover Agent's Story | Jacob Siegel | March 4, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe rural economy may be a dead end, but some of these migrants ply their savings into massive new compounds back in the laojia.
Ghosts in the Machine: The Story of China’s Rural Migrants and Their Uncertain Future | Ross Perlin | December 10, 2012 | THE DAILY BEASTThe labels are printed on ply-Corr cardboard, a material made from 50 percent post-consumer waste.
They are more likely to pick guys who ply their trade week in, week out at the highest levels.
But the Czar's mind had early taken a strange ply which it retained to the last.
The History of England from the Accession of James II. | Thomas Babington MacaulayI am very well entered into the business and esteem of the office, and do ply it close, and find benefit by it.
Diary of Samuel Pepys, Complete | Samuel PepysElectric tramways and omnibuses serve all parts of the city, and numerous ferries ply across the river.
Thus the principal means of communication are the steamers which ply along the coast.
The neighbors continued to speculate and to ply Mrs. Stuvic with questions concerning Milford.
A Yankee from the West | Opie Read
British Dictionary definitions for ply (1 of 2)
/ (plaɪ) /
to carry on, pursue, or work at (a job, trade, etc)
to manipulate or wield (a tool)
to sell (goods, wares, etc), esp at a regular place
(usually foll by with) to provide (with) or subject (to) repeatedly or persistently: he plied us with drink the whole evening; to ply a horse with a whip; he plied the speaker with questions
(intr) to perform or work steadily or diligently: to ply with a spade
(also intr) (esp of a ship) to travel regularly along (a route) or in (an area): to ply between Dover and Calais; to ply the trade routes
Origin of ply
1British Dictionary definitions for ply (2 of 2)
/ (plaɪ) /
a layer, fold, or thickness, as of cloth, wood, yarn, etc
(in combination): four-ply
a thin sheet of wood glued to other similar sheets to form plywood
one of the strands twisted together to make rope, yarn, etc
to twist together (two or more single strands) to make yarn
Origin of ply
2Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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