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plea

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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

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