ply: English has two distinct words ply, although ultimately they are related. The one meaning ‘fold, twist, layer’ [14], now mainly found in plywood [20] and in combinations such as twoply and three-ply, comes from Old French pli, a derivative of the verb plier ‘bend, fold’ (source of English apply [14], pliable [15], pliant [14], pliers [16], and reply).
This went back to Latin plicāre ‘fold’, a relative of English fold and source of accomplice, complicate [17], employ, explicit, imply, pleat, plight ‘predicament’, and supplicate. It was formed from a base that also produced English perplex [16] and the final syllables of simple and supple. The apple pie of apple-pie bed [18] is thought to be an alteration of French nappe pliée ‘folded sheet’. Ply ‘travel a route regularly’ or ‘solicit’ (as in ‘ply for hire’) [14] is short for apply, a relative of ply ‘fold’, and originally meant ‘apply, employ’ (as in ‘ply one’s needle’). => accomplice, apply, complicate, comply, double, employ, explicit, fold, imply, perplex, pleat, pliable, pliers, plight, reply, simple, supple, supplicate
ply (v.1)
"work with, use," late 14c., shortened form of applien "join to, apply" (see apply). The core of this is Latin plicare "to lay, fold, twist," from PIE root *plek- "to plait, twist" (cognates: Greek plekein "to plait, twine," plektos "twisted;" Latin plectere (past participle plexus) "to plait, braid, intertwine;" Old Church Slavonic plesti "to braid, plait, twist;" Gothic flahta "braid;" Old English fleax "cloth made with flax, linen").
Sense of "travel regularly" is first 1803, perhaps from earlier sense "steer a course" (1550s). Related: Plied; plies; plying.
ply (n.)
"a layer, a fold" 1530s, from Middle French pli "a fold" (13c.), alteration of Old French ploi "fold, pleat, layer" (12c.), verbal noun from ployer (later pleier) "to bend, to fold," from Latin plicare "to fold, lay" see ply (v.1)). This is the ply in plywood.
ply (v.2)
"to bend," late 14c., plien, from Old French plier, earlier pleier "to fold, bend," from Latin plicare "to lay, fold, twist" (see ply (v.1)). Related: Plied; plies; plying.
实用例句
1. You need 3 balls of any 4-ply knitting wool.
需要随便3团4股羊毛线。
来自柯林斯例句
2. It's illegal for unmarked mini-cabs to ply for hire.
无标志的电话预订出租车沿街拉客是非法的。
来自柯林斯例句
3. The brightly-coloured boats ply between the islands.
色彩明艳的船只往来于岛屿之间。
来自柯林斯例句
4. Ferries ply across a narrow strait to the island.
渡船定时穿越狭窄的海峡驶向海岛。
来自《权威词典》
5. Ferry boats ply regularly between all the resorts on the lake.
