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ploy

[ ploi ]
/ plɔɪ /
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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.
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Origin of ploy

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

OTHER WORDS FROM ploy

coun·ter·ploy, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use ploy in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for ploy

ploy
/ (plɔɪ) /

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
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