The late learners can not so well take the ply.
Bacon.
Boswell, and others of Goldsmith's contemporaries, . . . did not
understand the secret plies of his character.
W. Irving.
The czar's mind had taken a strange ply, which it retained to the
last.
Macaulay.
Ply is used in composition to designate folds, or the number of webs
interwoven; as, a three-ply carpet.
Ply"er (?), n. One who, or that which, plies; specifically: (a) pl. A
kind of balance used in raising and letting down a drawbridge. It
consists of timbers joined in the form of a St. Andrew's cross. (b) pl.
See Pliers.
Plyght (?), v. & n. See Plight. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Plym"outh Breth"ren (?). The members of a religious sect which first
appeared at Plymouth, England, about 1830. They protest against
sectarianism, and reject all official ministry or clergy. Also called
Brethren, Christian Brethren, Plymouthists, etc. The Darbyites are a
division of the Brethren.
Pne*om"e*ter (?), n. [Gr. &?; to breathe + -meter.] (Physiol.) A
spirometer.
{ Pneu*mat"ic (?), Pneu*mat"ic*al (?), } a. [L. pneumaticus, Gr. &?;,
fr. &?;, &?;, wind, air, &?; to blow, breathe; cf. OHG. fnehan: cf. F.
pneumatique. Cf. Pneumonia.] 1. Consisting of, or resembling, air;
having the properties of an elastic fluid; gaseous; opposed to dense or
solid.
The pneumatical substance being, in some bodies, the native spirit
of the body.
Bacon.
2. Of or pertaining to air, or to elastic fluids or their properties;
pertaining to pneumatics; as, pneumatic experiments. "Pneumatical
discoveries." Stewart.
3. Moved or worked by pressure or flow of air; as, a pneumatic
instrument; a pneumatic engine.
4. (Biol.) Fitted to contain air; Having cavities filled with air; as,
pneumatic cells; pneumatic bones.
Pneumatic action, or Pneumatic lever (Mus.), a contrivance for
overcoming the resistance of the keys and other movable parts in an
organ, by causing compressed air from the wind chest to move them. --
Pneumatic dispatch, a system of tubes, leading to various points,
through which letters, packages, etc., are sent, by the flow and
pressure of air. -- Pneumatic elevator, a hoisting machine worked by
compressed air. -- Pneumatic pile, a tubular pile or cylinder of large
diameter sunk by atmospheric pressure. -- Pneumatic pump, an
air-exhausting or forcing pump. -- Pneumatic railway. See Atmospheric
railway, under Atmospheric. -- Pneumatic syringe, a stout tube closed
at one end, and provided with a piston, for showing that the heat
produced by compressing a gas will ignite substances. -- Pneumatic
trough, a trough, generally made of wood or sheet metal, having a
perforated shelf, and used, when filled with water or mercury, for
collecting gases in chemical operations. -- Pneumatic tube. See
Pneumatic dispatch, above.
Pneu`ma*tic"i*ty (?), n. (Biol.) The state of being pneumatic, or of
having a cavity or cavities filled with air; as, the pneumaticity of
the bones of birds.