Play"mate` (?), n. A companion in diversions; a playfellow.
Play"some (?), a. Playful; wanton; sportive. [R.] R. Browning. --
Play"some*ness, n. [R.]
Playte (?), n. (Naut.) See Pleyt.
Play"thing` (?), n. A thing to play with; a toy; anything that serves
to amuse.
A child knows his nurse, and by degrees the playthings of a little
more advanced age.
Locke.
Play"time` (?), n. Time for play or diversion.
Play"wright` (?), n. A maker or adapter of plays.
Play"writ`er (?), n. A writer of plays; a dramatist; a playwright.
Lecky.
||Pla"za (?), n. [Sp. See Place.] A public square in a city or town.
Plea (?), n. [OE. plee, plai, plait, fr. OF. plait, plaid, plet, LL.
placitum judgment, decision, assembly, court, fr. L. placitum that
which is pleasing, an opinion, sentiment, from placere to please. See
Please, and cf. Placit, Plead.] 1. (Law) That which is alleged by a
party in support of his cause; in a stricter sense, an allegation of
fact in a cause, as distinguished from a demurrer; in a still more
limited sense, and in modern practice, the defendant's answer to the
plaintiff's declaration and demand. 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.
2. (Law) A cause in court; a lawsuit; as, the Court of Common Pleas.
See under Common.
The Supreme Judicial Court shall have cognizance of pleas real,
personal, and mixed.
Laws of Massachusetts.
3. That which is alleged or pleaded, in defense or in justification; an
excuse; an apology. "Necessity, the tyrant's plea." Milton.
No plea must serve; 't is cruelty to spare.
Denham.