plight
/plaɪt/ noun, verb
Forms plights plighting plighted
- noun A dire or unfortunate situation.
- noun (now rare) A (neutral) condition or state.
- noun (obsolete) Good health.
- noun (now chiefly dialectal) Responsibility for ensuing consequences; risk; danger; peril.
- noun (now chiefly dialectal) An instance of danger or peril; a dangerous moment or situation.
- noun (now chiefly dialectal) Blame; culpability; fault; wrong-doing; sin; crime.
- noun (now chiefly dialectal) One's office; duty; charge.
- noun (archaic) That which is exposed to risk; that which is plighted or pledged; security; a gage; a pledge.
- verb (transitive, now rare) To nominate an object of value as a security against a promise; to pledge something, as one's faith, trust, allegiance, or something symbolic of this.
- verb (transitive) Specifically, to pledge (one's troth etc.) as part of a marriage ceremony.
- verb (reflexive) To promise (oneself) to someone, or to do something.
- verb (obsolete) To weave; to braid; to fold; to plait.
- noun (obsolete) A network; a plait; a fold; rarely a garment.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English plit (“fold, wrinkle, bad situation”), conflation of Middle English pliht, plight (“risky promise, peril”) (from Old English pliht "danger, risk"; see Etymology 2) and Anglo-Norman plit, plyte (“fold, condition”), from Old French pleit (“condition, manner of folding”) (from Vulgar Latin *plictum, from Latin plicitum (“fold”)).
From Middle English plight (“risk, danger”), from Old English pliht (“peril, risk, danger, damage, plight”), from Proto-West Germanic *plihti (“care, responsibility, duty”). A suffixed form of the root represented by Old English pleoh (“risk, danger, hurt, peril"; also "responsibility”) and plēon (“to endanger, risk”). Akin to Old English plihtan (“to endanger, compromise”). Cognate with Scots plicht (“responsibility, plight”), Dutch plicht, Low German Plicht (“duty”), German Pflicht (“duty”), Danish pligt (“duty”), Yiddish פֿליכט (flikht). More at pledge.
From Middle English plyghten, plyȝten, pleyȝten, pleiten, pliten, from the noun (see below).
From Middle English pliȝt, plight, plyt, pleit, from Anglo-Norman pleit (“pleat, fold”). More at plait.
Webster’s 1913
- imp. & p. p. of Plight, to pledge. Chaucer.
- imp. & p. p. of Pluck. Chaucer.
- verb To weave; to braid; to fold; to plait.[Obs.] "To sew and plight." Chaucer.
- noun A network; a plait; a fold; rarely a garment. [Obs.] "Many a folded plight." Spenser.
Etymology [OE. pliten; probably through Old French, fr. LL. plectare, L. plectere. See Plait, Ply.]
Etymology [OE. pliht danger, engagement, AS. pliht danger, fr. pleón to risk; akin to D. plicht duty, G. pflicht, Dan. pligt. sq. root28. Cf. Play.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “plight”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details