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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 (gcide)

Ply \Ply\, v. i.
1. To bend; to yield. [Obs.]
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It would rather burst atwo than plye. --Chaucer.
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The willow plied, and gave way to the gust.
--L'Estrange.
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2. To act, go, or work diligently and steadily; especially,
to do something by repeated actions; to go back and forth;
as, a steamer plies between certain ports.
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Ere half these authors be read (which will soon be
with plying hard and daily). --Milton.
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He was forced to ply in the streets as a porter.
--Addison.
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The heavy hammers and mallets plied. --Longfellow.
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3. (Naut.) To work to windward; to beat.
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Ply \Ply\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Plied}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Plying}.] [OE. plien, F. plier to fold, to bend, fr. L.
plicare; akin to Gr. ?, G. flechten. Cf. {Apply}, {Complex},
{Display}, {Duplicity}, {Employ}, {Exploit}, {Implicate},
{Plait}, {Pliant}, {Flax}.]
1. To bend. [Obs.]
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As men may warm wax with handes plie. --Chaucer.
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2. To lay on closely, or in folds; to work upon steadily, or
with repeated acts; to press upon; to urge importunately;
as, to ply one with questions, with solicitations, or with
drink.
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And plies him with redoubled strokes --Dryden.
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He plies the duke at morning and at night. --Shak.
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3. To employ diligently; to use steadily.
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Go ply thy needle; meddle not. --Shak.
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4. To practice or perform with diligence; to work at.
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Their bloody task, unwearied, still they ply.
--Waller.
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Ply \Ply\, n. [Cf. F. pli, fr. plier. See {Ply}, v.]
1. A fold; a plait; a turn or twist, as of a cord.
--Arbuthnot.
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2. Bent; turn; direction; bias.
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The late learners can not so well take the ply.
--Bacon.
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Boswell, and others of Goldsmith's contemporaries, .
. . did not understand the secret plies of his
character. --W. Irving.
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The czar's mind had taken a strange ply, which it
retained to the last. --Macaulay.
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Note: Ply is used in composition to designate folds, or the
number of webs interwoven; as, a three-ply carpet.
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