ploy

[ploi]

noun

a maneuver or stratagem, as in conversation, to gain the advantage.

verb (used with object)

Military Archaic. to move (troops) from a line into a column.Compare deploy.

verb (used without object)

Military Archaic. to move from a line into a column.

Origin of ploy

1475–85; earlier ploye to bend < Middle French ployer (French plier) < Latin plicāre to fold, ply²; see deploy

Related formscoun·ter·ploy, noun

Synonyms for ploy

1. tactic, ruse, subterfuge, wile, gambit.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for ployed

Historical Examples of ployed

Page 434: 'enployed' corrected to 'employed': "known to nearly all pottery-making peoples—were frequently employed."
Ancient Pottery of the Mississippi Valley
William H. Holmes
He retired, and ployed into brigade columns by regiments, immediately beyond the crest of Fairview hill.
The Campaign of Chancellorsville
Theodore A. Dodge

British Dictionary definitions for ployed

ploy

noun

a manoeuvre or tactic in a game, conversation, etc; stratagem; gambit
any business, job, hobby, etc, with which one is occupiedangling is his latest ploy
mainly British a frolic, escapade, or practical joke

Word Origin for ploy

C18: originally Scot and northern English, perhaps from obsolete n sense of employ meaning an occupation

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for ployed

ploy

1722, "anything with which one amuses oneself," Scottish and northern England dialect, possibly a shortened form of employ or deploy. Popularized in the sense "move or gambit made to gain advantage" by British humorist Stephen Potter (1900-1969).