plea

== English == === Etymology === From Middle English ple, from Old French plait, plaid, from Medieval Latin placitum (“a decree, sentence, suit, plea, etc., Latin an opinion, determination, prescription, order; literally, that which is pleasing, pleasure”), neuter of placitus, past participle of placere (“to please”). Cognate with Spanish pleito (“lawsuit, suit”). Doublet of placit. See also please, pleasure. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /pliː/ Rhymes: -iː === Noun === plea (plural pleas) An appeal, petition, urgent prayer or entreaty. a plea for mercy make a plea An excuse; an apology. That which is alleged or pleaded, in defense or in justification. (law) That which is alleged by a party in support of his cause. (law) An allegation of fact in a cause, as distinguished from a demurrer. (law) The defendant’s answer to the plaintiff’s declaration and demand. (law) A cause in court; a lawsuit; as, the Court of Common Pleas. 1782, "An Act establishing a Supreme Judicial Court within the Commonwealth", quoted in The Constitutional History of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Frank Washburn Grinnell, 1917, page 434 they or any three of them shall be a Court and have cognizance of pleas real, personal, and mixed. ==== Usage notes ==== In 19th-century U.K. law, that which the plaintiff alleges in his declaration is answered and repelled or justified by the defendant’s plea. In chancery practice, a plea is a special answer showing or relying upon one or more things as a cause why the suit should be either dismissed, delayed, or barred. In criminal practice, the plea is the defendant’s formal answer to the indictment or information presented against him/her. ==== Synonyms ==== plaidoyer ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Related terms ==== plead pleasant please pleasurable pleasure ==== Translations ==== === Verb === plea (third-person singular simple present pleas, present participle pleaing, simple past and past participle pleaed) (chiefly England regional, Scotland) To plead; to argue. [from 15th c.] === Further reading === “plea”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC. William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “plea”, in The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia: […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC. “plea”, in OneLook Dictionary Search. === Anagrams === Alep, LEAP, Lape, Leap, Peal, e-pal, leap, pale, pale-, peal, pela