ploy

Etymology

It is probably a shortening of employ in its old noun sense of employment or occupation,^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} recorded from the 1660s.^[6][5] That noun is from French emploi, from the verb employer, from Old French emploiier, from Latin implicō (“to enfold, involve”), from in- and plicō (“to fold”).^[6] The American Heritage Dictionary gives the derivation only as "perhaps",^[8] and the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English call the origin unknown.^[9][10] Dictionary.com instead derives it from an earlier verb meaning to bend, from Middle French ployer (modern plier), the source of deploy.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

An activity one takes up, especially for amusement; a pastime or escapade: before 1689, in the poems of W. Cleland.^[2][3] Barnhart and Etymonline date it to 1722, as a Scottish and northern English word.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

The word was long chiefly Scottish and northern English,^[2][5][6][4] where it meant amusement, merrymaking, a frolic or a practical joke.^[7] Wright's dialect dictionary quotes Scott's Nigel: "cart-ropes would not hold them back from such a ploy".^[7] The modern sense, a stratagem used to gain an advantage over someone, is recorded from 1940.^[2] It was popularized by the British humorist Stephen Potter, who parodied self-help manuals in Gamesmanship (1947)^[6] and Lifemanship (1950).^[5] The Oxford Dictionary of English dates the idea of "a calculated plan" to the 1950s.^[10]

Timeline

• before 1689 – a pastime, undertaking or escapade, in Scottish use.^[2][3] Barnhart and Etymonline date it to 1722.^[5][6]
• 1940 – a stratagem to gain an advantage.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A cunning move or tactic used to gain an advantage; a stratagem or gambit: The free delivery offer was a ploy to win new customers.^[4][2][3]
2. (chiefly Scottish) An activity, pursuit or job one is busy with, especially for amusement.^[4][3][2]
3. (chiefly British) A frolic, escapade or practical joke.^[4][3][7]

Word family

• counterploy

Related words

• employ
• deploy

Usage notes

The OED has several older, unrelated words spelt ploy: a verb meaning to bend (about 1473–1578) and a noun for a plight or a fold (1477), both from Middle French; a Scots noun for a lawsuit (about 1600), probably a variant of plea; a shortening of the verb employ (1675); and a military verb, to move troops from line into column (1836), a back-formation from deploy.^[2][12]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
5. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
12. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.