plea

Pronunciation

• IPA: /pliː/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English ple, borrowed from Anglo-Norman plai and Old French plait, plaid (“agreement, lawsuit, decree”),^[2][3][4][5] from Medieval Latin placitum (“lawsuit, court day”), in classical Latin “opinion, decree”, literally “that which pleases”,^[3][5] the neuter past participle of Latin placeō (“to please”) (see please).^[4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A suit or action at law: before 1250 in the OED, the early 13th century in Etymonline.^[7][3] Barnhart's first example, about 1250 in The Owl and the Nightingale, means strife, contention or complaint.^[2]

Semantic evolution

A prisoner's formal answer to a charge is recorded from 1337,^[7] and a pleading or argument put before a court from about 1381.^[7] Hoad dates the sense “that which is pleaded” to the 15th century.^[4] Phrases such as to hold pleas, to try actions at law, are from 1477,^[7] and the US slang to cop a plea, to plead guilty to a lesser charge, from 1927.^[7] The everyday sense today is an earnest request or appeal.^[8][9]

Timeline

• before 1250 – a lawsuit.^[7]
• 1337 – a prisoner's answer to a charge.^[7]
• c. 1381 – a pleading in court.^[7]
• 1699 – special plea (law).^[7]
• 1927 – to cop a plea (US slang).^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. An earnest request; an appeal.
2. An excuse or pretext.
3. (law) The answer of an accused person to a criminal charge, as a plea of guilty.
4. (law) Something alleged by a party to legal proceedings in support of a claim or defence.
5. (law, Scotland and formerly England) A lawsuit.

Word family

• counterplea
• plea-bargain
• Alford plea
• plea bargaining

Related words

• plead
• pleasant
• please
• pleasurable
• pleasure
• placid

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins