Dictionary.com
definitions
  • synonyms

ploy

[ploi]
noun
  1. a maneuver or stratagem, as in conversation, to gain the advantage.
Show More
verb (used with object)
  1. Military Archaic. to move (troops) from a line into a column.Compare deploy.
Show More
verb (used without object)
  1. Military Archaic. to move from a line into a column.
Show More

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

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

  • 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.

British Dictionary definitions for ployed

ploy

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

Word Origin

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

n.

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).

Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper