plead. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

plead

PRONUNCIATION:	pld
VERB:	Inflected forms: plead·ed or pled ( pld), plead·ing, pleads
INTRANSITIVE VERB:	1. To appeal earnestly; beg: plead for more time. 2. To offer reasons for or against something; argue earnestly: plead against a bill. 3. To provide an argument or appeal: Your youth pleads for you in this instance. 4. Law a. To put forward a plea of a specific nature in court: plead guilty. b. To make or answer an allegation in a legal proceeding. c. To address a court as a lawyer or advocate.
TRANSITIVE VERB:	1. To assert as defense, vindication, or excuse; claim as a plea: plead illness. 2. Law a. To present as an answer to a charge, indictment, or declaration made against one. b. To argue or present (a case) in a court or similar tribunal.
ETYMOLOGY:	Middle English pleden, plaiden, from Old French plaidier, from Medieval Latin placitre, to appeal to the law, from Late Latin placitum, decree, opinion. See plea.
OTHER FORMS:	pleada·ble —ADJECTIVE pleader —NOUN pleading·ly —ADVERB
USAGE NOTE:	In strict legal usage, one is said to plead guilty or plead not guilty but not to plead innocent. In nonlegal contexts, however, plead innocent is well established.


The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.