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Webster 1913 Edition

Plight

Plight

,
obs.
imp.
&
p.
p.
of
Plight
, to pledge.
Chaucer.

Plight

,
obs.
imp.
&
p.
p.
of
Pluck
.
Chaucer.

Plight

,
Verb.
T.
[OE.
pliten
; probably through Old French, fr. LL.
plectare
, L.
plectere
. See
Plait
,
Ply
.]
To weave; to braid; to fold; to plait.
[Obs.]
“To sew and plight.”
Chaucer.
A
plighted
garment of divers colors.
Milton.

Plight

,
Noun.
A network; a plait; a fold; rarely a garment.
[Obs.]
“Many a folded plight.”
Spenser.

Plight

,
Noun.
[OE.
pliht
danger, engagement, AS.
pliht
danger, fr.
pleón
to risk; akin to D.
plicht
duty, G.
pflicht
, Dan.
pligt
. √28. Cf.
Play
.]
1.
That which is exposed to risk; that which is plighted or pledged; security; a gage; a pledge.
“That lord whose hand must take my plight.”
Shak.
2.
[Perh. the same word as
plight
a pledge, but at least influenced by OF.
plite
,
pliste
,
ploit
,
ploi
, a condition, state; cf. E.
plight
to fold, and F.
pli
a fold, habit,
plier
to fold, E.
ply
.]
Condition; state; – risk, or exposure to danger, often being implied;
as, a luckless
plight
.
“Your plight is pitied.”
Shak.
To bring our craft all in another
plight
Chaucer.

Plight

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Plighted
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Plighting
.]
[AS.
plihtan
to expose to danger,
pliht
danger;cf. D. ver
plichten
to oblige, engage, impose a duty, G. ver
pflichten
, Sw. för
plikta
, Dan. for
pligte
. See
Plight
,
Noun.
]
1.
To pledge; to give as a pledge for the performance of some act; as, to plight faith, honor, word; – never applied to property or goods.
“ To do them plighte their troth.”
Piers Plowman.
He
plighted
his right hand
Unto another love, and to another land.
Spenser.
Here my inviolable faith I
plight
.
Dryden.
2.
To promise; to engage; to betroth.
Before its setting hour, divide
The bridegroom from the
plighted
bride.
Sir W. Scott.

Webster 1828 Edition

Plight

PLIGHT

,
Verb.
T.
plite. [L. plico; flecto, to bend; ligo. See Alloy and Ply.]
1.
To pledge; to give as security for the performance of some act; but never applied to property or goods. We say, he plighted his hand, his faith, his vows, his honor, his truth or troth. Pledge is applied to property as well as to word, faith, truth, honor, &c. To plight faith is, as it were, to deposit it in pledge for the performance of an act, on the non-performance of which, the pledge is forfeited.
2.
To weave; to braid.
[This is the primary sense of the word, L. plico, but now obsolete.]

PLIGHT

,
Noun.
plite. Literally, a state of being involved, [L. plicatus, implicatus, implicitus;] hence, perplexity, distress, or a distressed state or condition; as a miserable plight. But the word by itself does not ordinarily imply distress. Hence,
1.
Condition; state; and sometimes good case; as, to keep cattle in plight.
In most cases, this word is now accompanied with an adjective which determines its signification; as bad plight; miserable or wretched plight; good plight.
2.
Pledge; gage.
The Lord, whose hand must take my plight.
3.
A fold [L. plica;] a double; a plait.
All in a silken Camus, lily white,
Purfled upon with many a folded plight.
4.
A garment. [Not used.]

Definition 2024

plight

plight

English

Pronunciation

  • enPR: plīt, IPA(key): /plaɪt/
  • Rhymes: -aɪt

Noun

plight ‎(plural plights)

  1. A dire or unfortunate situation. [from 14th c.]
    • 2011 December 10, Arindam Rej, “Norwich 4-2 Newcastle”, in BBC Sport:
      A second Norwich goal in four minutes arrived after some dire Newcastle defending. Gosling gave the ball away with a sloppy back-pass, allowing Crofts to curl in a cross that the unmarked Morison powered in with a firm, 12-yard header. Gosling's plight worsened when he was soon shown a red card for a foul on Martin.
    • 2005, Lesley Brown, translating Plato, Sophist, 243c:
      Though we say we are quite clear about it and understand when someone uses the expression, unlike that other expression, maybe we're in the same plight with regard to them both.
  2. (now rare) A (neutral) condition or state. [from 14th c.]
  3. (obsolete) Good health. [14th-19th c.]
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.7:
      All wayes shee sought him to restore to plight, / With herbs, with charms, with counsel, and with teares […].
Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English plight ‎(“risk, danger”), from Old English pliht ‎(“peril, risk, danger, damage, plight”), from Proto-Germanic *plihtiz ‎(“care, responsibility, duty”). A suffixed form of the root represented by Old English pleoh ‎(“risk, danger, hurt, peril"; also "responsibility”) and plēon ‎(“to endanger, risk”). Akin to Old English plihtan ‎(“to endanger, compromise”). Cognate with Scots plicht ‎(“responsibility, plight”), Dutch plicht, Low German plicht ‎(“duty”), German Pflicht ‎(“duty”), Danish pligt ‎(“duty”). More at pledge.

Pronunciation

  • enPR: plīt, IPA(key): /plaɪt/
  • Rhymes: -aɪt

Noun

plight ‎(plural plights)

  1. (now chiefly dialectal) Responsibility for ensuing consequences; risk; danger; peril.
  2. (now chiefly dialectal) An instance of danger or peril; a dangerous moment or situation.
  3. (now chiefly dialectal) Blame; culpability; fault; wrong-doing; sin; crime.
  4. (now chiefly dialectal) One's office; duty; charge.
  5. (archaic) That which is exposed to risk; that which is plighted or pledged; security; a gage; a pledge.
    • Shakespeare
      that lord whose hand must take my plight
Derived terms
Translations

Verb

plight ‎(third-person singular simple present plights, present participle plighting, simple past and past participle plighted)

  1. (transitive, now rare) To expose to risk; to pledge.
  2. (transitive) Specifically, to pledge (one's troth etc.) as part of a marriage ceremony.
  3. (reflexive) To promise (oneself) to someone, or to do something.
    • 1992, Hilary Mantel, A Place of Greater Safety, Harper Perennial 2007, p. 226:
      I ask what I have done to deserve it, one daughter hobnobbing with radicals and the other planning to plight herself to a criminal.
Derived terms

Etymology 3

Through Old French, from Latin plectare. German flechten ‎(“to plait”) and Danish flette are probably unrelated.

Verb

plight ‎(third-person singular simple present plights, present participle plighting, simple past and past participle plighted)

  1. (obsolete) To weave; to braid; to fold; to plait.
    • Milton
      A plighted garment of divers colors.

Noun

plight ‎(plural plights)

  1. (obsolete) A network; a plait; a fold; rarely a garment.
    • Spenser
      Many a folded plight.

Etymology

From Middle English plit ‎(“fold, wrinkle, bad situation”), conflation of Middle English pliht, plight ‎(“risky promise, peril”) (from Old English pliht "danger, risk") and Anglo-Norman plit, plyte ‎(“fold, condition”), from Old French pleit ‎(“condition, manner of folding”) (from Vulgar Latin *plictum, from Latin plicitum ‎(“fold”)).

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