plea
/pliː/ noun, verb
Forms pleas pleaing pleaed
- noun An appeal, petition, urgent prayer or entreaty. “a plea for mercy”
- noun An excuse; an apology.
- noun That which is alleged or pleaded, in defense or in justification.
- noun (law) That which is alleged by a party in support of his cause.
- noun (law) An allegation of fact in a cause, as distinguished from a demurrer.
- noun (law) The defendant’s answer to the plaintiff’s declaration and demand.
- noun (law) A cause in court; a lawsuit; as, the Court of Common Pleas.
- verb (chiefly England regional, Scotland) To plead; to argue.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English ple, from Old French plait, plaid, from Medieval Latin placitum (“a decree, sentence, suit, plea, etc., Latin an opinion, determination, prescription, order; literally, that which is pleasing, pleasure”), neuter of placitus, past participle of placere (“to please”). Cognate with Spanish pleito (“lawsuit, suit”). Doublet of placit. See also please, pleasure.
Webster’s 1913
- noun That which is alleged by a party in support of his cause; in a stricter sense, an allegation of fact in a cause, as distinguished from a demurrer; in a still more limited sense, and in modern practice, the defendant's answer to the plaintiff's declaration and demand. That which the plaintiff alleges in his declaration is answered and repelled or justified by the defendant's plea. In chancery practice, a plea is a special answer showing or relying upon one or more things as a cause why the suit should be either dismissed, delayed, or barred. In criminal practice, the plea is the defendant's for
- noun A cause in court; a lawsuit; as, the Court of Common Pleas. See under Common.
Etymology [OE. plee, plai, plait, fr. OF. plait, plaid, plet, LL. placitum judgment, decision, assembly, court, fr. L. placitum that which is pleasing, an opinion, sentiment, from placere to please. See Please, and cf. Placit, Plead.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “plea”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details