Webster's Dictionary, 1913
Plop intransitive verb
[ imperfect & past participle Plopped
; present participle & verbal noun Plopping
.] [ Imitative.] To fall, drop, or move in any way, with a sudden splash or slap, as on the surface of water.
The body plopped up, turning on its side. Kipling.
Plop noun Act of plopping; the sound made in plopping.
[ Anglo-Saxon plot
; confer Goth. plats
a patch. Confer Plat
a piece of ground.] 1. A small extent of ground; a plat; as, a garden plot . Shak. 2. A plantation laid out.
[ Obsolete] Sir P. Sidney. 3. (Surv.) A plan or draught of a field, farm, estate, etc., drawn to a scale.
Plot transitive verb
[ imperfect & past participle Plotted
; present participle & verbal noun Plotting
.] To make a plot, map, pr plan, of; to mark the position of on a plan; to delineate.
This treatise plotteth down Cornwall as it now standeth. Carew.
[ Abbrev. from complot
.] 1. Any scheme, stratagem, secret design, or plan, of a complicated nature, adapted to the accomplishment of some purpose, usually a treacherous and mischievous one; a conspiracy; an intrigue; as, the Rye-house Plot .
I have overheard a plot of death. Shak.
O, think what anxious moments pass between Addison. 2. A share in such a plot or scheme; a participation in any stratagem or conspiracy.
The birth of plots and their last fatal periods!
And when Christ saith, Who marries the divorced commits adultery, it is to be understood, if he had any plot in the divorce. Milton. 3. Contrivance; deep reach of thought; ability to plot or intrigue.
[ Obsolete] "A man of much plot
." Denham. 4. A plan; a purpose.
"No other plot
in their religion but serve God and save their souls." Jer. Taylor. 5. In fiction, the story of a play, novel, romance, or poem, comprising a complication of incidents which are gradually unfolded, sometimes by unexpected means.
If the plot or intrigue must be natural, and such as springs from the subject, then the winding up of the plot must be a probable consequence of all that went before. Pope. Syn.
-- Intrigue; stratagem; conspiracy; cabal; combination; contrivance.
(plŏt) intransitive verb 1. To form a scheme of mischief against another, especially against a government or those who administer it; to conspire. Shak.
The wicked plotteth against the just. Ps. xxxvii. 12. 2. To contrive a plan or stratagem; to scheme.
The prince did plot to be secretly gone. Sir H. Wotton.
Plot transitive verb To plan; to scheme; to devise; to contrive secretly. " Plotting an unprofitable crime." Dryden. " Plotting now the fall of others." Milton
Plot-proof adjective Secure against harm by plots. Shak.
Plotful adjective Abounding with plots.
Plotinian adjective Of pertaining to the Plotinists or their doctrines.
Plotinist noun (Eccl. Hist.) A disciple of Plotinus, a celebrated Platonic philosopher of the third century, who taught that the human soul emanates from the divine Being, to whom it reunited at death.
Plotter noun One who plots or schemes; a contriver; a conspirator; a schemer. Dryden.
Plough noun & v. See Plow .
Plouter intransitive verb
[ Also plowter
.] [ Perh. imitative.] To wade or move about with splashing; to dabble; also, to potter; trifle; idle.
[ Scot. & Dial. Eng.]
I did not want to plowter about any more. Kipling.
Plouter noun [ Also plowter .] Act of ploutering; floundering; act or sound of splashing. [ Scot. & Dial.Eng.]
[ Old French plovier
, French pluvier
, prop., the rain bird, from Late Latin (assumed) pluviarius
, from Latin pluvia
rain, from pluere
to rain; akin to English float
, German fliessen
to flow. See Float
.] 1. (Zoology) Any one of numerous species of limicoline birds belonging to the family Charadridæ , and especially those belonging to the subfamily Charadrinsæ . They are prized as game birds. 2. (Zoology) Any grallatorial bird allied to, or resembling, the true plovers, as the crab plover ( Dromas ardeola ); the American upland, plover ( Bartramia longicauda ); and other species of sandpipers.
» Among the more important species are the blackbellied, or blackbreasted, plover
( Charadrius squatarola
) of America and Europe; -- called also gray plover
, bull-head plover
, Swiss plover
, sea plover
, and oxeye
; the golden plover
(see under Golden
); the ring or ringed plover
( Ægialitis hiaticula
). See Ringneck
. The piping plover
( Ægialitis meloda
); Wilson's plover
( Æ. Wilsonia
); the mountain plover
( Æ. montana
); and the semipalmated plover
( Æ. semipalmata
), are all small American species. Bastard plover (Zoology)
, the lapwing.
, or yellow- legged
. See Tattler .
-- Plover's page
, the dunlin.
[ Prov. Eng.] -- Rock plover
, or Stone plover
, the black-bellied plover.
[ Prov. Eng.] -- Whistling plover
. (a) The golden plover
. (b) The black-bellied plover.
[ Middle English plouh
, Anglo-Saxon plōh
; akin to Dutch ploeg
, German pflug
, Old High German pfluog
, Icelandic plōgr
, Swedish plog
, Danish ploug
, Russian plug'
, Lithuanian plugas
.] 1. A well-known implement, drawn by horses, mules, oxen, or other power, for turning up the soil to prepare it for bearing crops; also used to furrow or break up the soil for other purposes; as, the subsoil plow ; the draining plow .
Where fern succeeds ungrateful to the plow . Dryden. 2. Fig.: Agriculture; husbandry. Johnson. 3. A carucate of land; a plowland.
[ Obsolete] [ Eng.]
Johan, mine eldest son, shall have plowes five. Tale of Gamelyn. 4. A joiner's plane for making grooves; a grooving plane. 5. (Bookbinding) An implement for trimming or shaving off the edges of books. 6. (Astron.) Same as Charles's Wain . Ice plow
, a plow used for cutting ice on rivers, ponds, etc.
, into cakes suitable for storing. [ U. S.] -- Mackerel plow
. See under Mackerel .
- - Plow alms
, a penny formerly paid by every plowland to the church. Cowell.
-- Plow beam
, that part of the frame of a plow to which the draught is applied. See Beam , noun , 9.
-- Plow Monday
, the Monday after Twelth Day, or the end of Christmas holidays.
-- Plow staff
. (a) A kind of long-handled spade or paddle for cleaning the plowshare; a paddle staff
. (b) A plow handle.
-- Snow plow
, a structure, usually &LAMBDA;-shaped, for removing snow from sidewalks, railroads, etc., -- drawn or driven by a horse or a locomotive.
Plow, Plough transitive verb
[ imperfect & past participle Plowed
(ploud) or Ploughed
; present participle & verbal noun Plowing
.] 1. To turn up, break up, or trench, with a plow; to till with, or as with, a plow; as, to plow the ground; to plow a field. 2. To furrow; to make furrows, grooves, or ridges in; to run through, as in sailing.
Let patient Octavia plow thy visage up Shak.
With her prepared nails.
With speed we plow the watery way. Pope. 3. (Bookbinding) To trim, or shave off the edges of, as a book or paper, with a plow. See Plow , noun , 5. 4. (Joinery) To cut a groove in, as in a plank, or the edge of a board; especially, a rectangular groove to receive the end of a shelf or tread, the edge of a panel, a tongue, etc. To plow in
, to cover by plowing; as, to plow in wheat.
-- To plow up
, to turn out of the ground by plowing.
(plou) intransitive verb To labor with, or as with, a plow; to till or turn up the soil with a plow; to prepare the soil or bed for anything. Shak.
Doth the plowman plow all day to sow ? Isa. xxviii. 24.
Plowable, Ploughable adjective Capable of being plowed; arable.
Plowbote, Ploughbote noun (Eng. Law) Wood or timber allowed to a tenant for the repair of instruments of husbandry. See Bote .
Plowboy, Ploughboy noun A boy that drives or guides a team in plowing; a young rustic.
Plower, Plougher noun One who plows; a plowman; a cultivator.
Plowfoot, Ploughfoot noun An adjustable staff formerly attached to the plow beam to determine the depth of the furrow. Piers Plowman.
Plowgang, Ploughgang noun Same as Plowgate .
Plowgate, Ploughgate noun The Scotch equivalent of the English word plowland .
Not having one plowgate of land. Sir W. Scott.
Plowhead, Ploughhead noun The clevis or draught iron of a plow.
Plowland, Plougland noun
1. Land that is plowed, or suitable for tillage. 2. (O. Eng. Law) the quantity of land allotted for the work of one plow; a hide.
Plowman, Ploughman noun
; plural -men 1. One who plows, or who holds and guides a plow; hence, a husbandman. Chaucer. Macaulay. 2. A rustic; a countryman; a field laborer. Plowman's spikenard (Botany)
, a European composite weed ( Conyza squarrosa ), having fragrant roots. Dr. Prior.
Plowpoint, Ploughpoint noun A detachable share at the extreme front end of the plow body.
Plowshare, Ploughshare noun The share of a plow, or that part which cuts the slice of earth or sod at the bottom of the furrow. Plowshare bone (Anat.) , the pygostyle.
Plowtail, Ploughtail noun The hind part or handle of a plow.
Plowwright, Ploughwright noun One who makes or repairs plows.
Ploy noun Sport; frolic. [ Prov. Eng. & Scot.]
Ploy intransitive verb [ Prob. abbrev. from deploy .] (Mil.) To form a column from a line of troops on some designated subdivision; -- the opposite of deploy . Wilhelm.
Ployment noun (Mil.) The act or movement of forming a column from a line of troops on some designated subdivision; -- the opposite of deployment .
Pluck transitive verb
[ imperfect & past participle Plucked
; present participle & verbal noun Plucking
.] [ Anglo-Saxon pluccian
; akin to LG. & Dutch plukken
, German pflücken
, Icelandic plokka
, Danish plukke
, Swedish plocka
. ...27.] 1. To pull; to draw.
Its own nature . . . plucks on its own dissolution. Je.... Taylor. 2. Especially, to pull with sudden force or effort, or to pull off or out from something, with a twitch; to twitch; also, to gather, to pick; as, to pluck feathers from a fowl; to pluck hair or wool from a skin; to pluck grapes.
I come to pluck your berries harsh and crude. Milton.
E'en children followed, with endearing wile, Goldsmith. 3. To strip of, or as of, feathers; as, to pluck a fowl.
And plucked his gown to share the good man's smile.
They which pass by the way do pluck her. Ps. lxxx....2. 4. (Eng. Universities) To reject at an examination for degrees. C. Bronté. To pluck away
, to pull away, or to separate by pulling; to tear away.
-- To pluck down
, to pull down; to demolish; to reduce to a lower state.
-- to pluck off
, to pull or tear off; as, to pluck off the skin.
-- to pluck up
. (a) To tear up by the roots or from the foundation; to eradicate; to exterminate; to destroy; as, to pluck up a plant; to pluck up a nation
. Jer. xii. 17. (b) To gather up; to summon; as, to pluck up courage.
Pluck intransitive verb To make a motion of pulling or twitching; -- usually with at ; as, to pluck at one's gown.
Pluck noun 1. The act of plucking; a pull; a twitch. 2.
[ Prob. so called as being plucked
out after the animal is killed; or confer Gael. & Ir. pluc
a lump, a knot, a bunch.] The heart, liver, and lights of an animal. 3. Spirit; courage; indomitable resolution; fortitude.
Decay of English spirit, decay of manly pluck . Thackeray. 4. The act of plucking, or the state of being plucked, at college. See Pluck , transitive verb , 4. 5. (Zoology) The lyrie.
[ Prov. Eng.]
Plucked adjective Having courage and spirit. [ R.]
Plucker noun 1. One who, or that which, plucks.
Thou setter up and plucker down of kings. Shak. 2. A machine for straightening and cleaning wool.
Pluckily adverb In a plucky manner.
Pluckiness noun The quality or state of being plucky.
Pluckless adjective Without pluck; timid; faint-hearted.
[ Compar. Pluckier
; superl. Pluckiest
.] Having pluck or courage; characterized by pluck; displaying pluck; courageous; spirited; as, a plucky race.
If you're plucky , and not over subject to fright. Barham.
Pluff transitive verb [ Prob. of imitative origin.] To throw out, as smoke, dust, etc., in puffs. [ Scot.]
1. A puff, as of smoke from a pipe, or of dust from a puffball; a slight explosion, as of a small quantity of gunpowder. [ Scot.] 2. A hairdresser's powder puff; also, the act of using it. [ Scot.]
Plücker tube [ So named after Julius Plücker , a German physicist.] (Physics) (a) A vacuum tube, used in spectrum analysis, in which the part through which the discharge takes place is a capillary tube, thus producing intense incandescence of the contained gases. (b) Crookes tube.