ply
IPA: pɫˈaɪ
noun
- A layer of material.
- A strand that, twisted together with other strands, makes up rope or yarn.
- (artificial intelligence, combinatorial game theory) In two-player sequential games, a "half-turn" or a move made by one of the players.
- (now chiefly Scotland) A condition, a state.
- A bent; a direction.
- (colloquial) Short for plywood. [(uncountable) Construction material supplied in sheets, and made of three or more layers of wood veneer glued together, laid up with alternating layers having their grain perpendicular to each other.]
verb
- (transitive, obsolete) To bend; to fold; to mould; (figuratively) to adapt, to modify; to change (a person's) mind, to cause (a person) to submit.
- (intransitive) To bend, to flex; to be bent by something, to give way or yield (to a force, etc.).
- (transitive) To work at (something) diligently.
- (transitive) To wield or use (a tool, a weapon, etc.) steadily or vigorously.
- (transitive) To press upon; to urge persistently.
- (transitive) To persist in offering something to, especially for the purpose of inducement or persuasion.
- (transitive, intransitive, transport) To travel over (a route) regularly.
- (intransitive, obsolete) To work diligently.
- (intransitive, nautical, obsolete) To manoeuvre a sailing vessel so that the direction of the wind changes from one side of the vessel to the other; to work to windward, to beat, to tack.
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Examples of "ply" in Sentences
- Buses ply to various parts of the state.
- It was the last steamboat to ply the river.
- The strands leave the wheel and ply together.
- Fishermen ply the 'Green Canal' in search of shellfish.
- The Sierra Madre and the Genesis Bus Companies ply this route.
- Dozens of steamers ply between the different towns on the lake.
- The two women ply to trade their goods on the streets of Madrid.
- Several buses ply between the major cities and towns of the state.
- Riverboats from the Pacific Northwest headed north to ply the trade.
- A second ply of tire cord fabric is superimposed upon the first ply.