different between coat vs ply

English

Alternative forms

• cote (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English cote, coate, cotte, from Old French cote, cotte (“outer garment with sleeves”), from Latin cotta (“undercoat, tunic”), from Proto-Germanic *kuttô, *kutt? (“cowl, woolen cloth, coat”), from Proto-Indo-European *g?ewd-, *gud- (“woolen clothes”).

Cognate with Old High German kozza, kozzo (“woolen coat”) (German Kotze (“coarse woolen blanket; woolen cape”)), Middle Low German kot (“coat”), Ancient Greek ?????? (beûdos, “woman's attire”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ko?t/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /k??t/
• Rhymes: -??t

Noun

coat (countable and uncountable, plural coats)

1. (countable) An outer garment covering the upper torso and arms.^Wp

   • It was April 22, 1831, and a young man was walking down Whitehall in the direction of Parliament Street. He wore shepherd's plaid trousers and the swallow-tail coat of the day, with a figured muslin cravat wound about his wide-spread collar.

   • Mind you, clothes were clothes in those days. […] Frills, ruffles, flounces, lace, complicated seams and gores: not only did they sweep the ground and have to be held up in one hand elegantly as you walked along, but they had little capes or coats or feather boas.

2. (countable) A covering of material, such as paint.^Wp
3. (countable) The fur or feathers covering an animal's skin.^Wp

4. (uncountable, nautical) Canvas painted with thick tar and secured round a mast or bowsprit to prevent water running down the sides into the hold (now made of rubber or leather).
5. (obsolete) A petticoat.

   • a child in coats

6. The habit or vesture of an order of men, indicating the order or office; cloth.
   • 1729, Jonathan Swift, The Grand Question Debated of Hamilton's Bawn

     Men of his coat should be minding their prayers.

   • 1609, William Shakespeare, A Lover's Compaint

     She was sought by spirits of richest coat.

7. A coat of arms.^Wp
8. A coat card.
   • 1656, Thomas Middleton, William Rowley, and Philip Massinger, The Old Law

     Here's a trick of discarded cards of us! We were ranked with coats as long as old master lived.

Derived terms

Descendants

• Sranan Tongo: koto

Translations

Verb

coat (third-person singular simple present coats, present participle coating, simple past and past participle coated)

1. (transitive) To cover with a coating of some material.
2. (transitive) To cover like a coat.
3. (transitive, archaic) To clothe.

Translations

Anagrams

• ATOC, CATO, Cato, Cota, TACO, octa, octa-, taco

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /pla?/
• Rhymes: -a?

Etymology 1

From Middle English pleit, plit, plite (“a fold, pleat, wrinkle; braid, strand in a braided cord, ply”), from Anglo-Norman pli, plei, pleit, and Middle French pli, ploy, ply (“a fold, pleat; joint in armour; situation, state”) (modern French pli (“a fold, pleat”)), from plier, ployer (“to bend, fold”), from Latin plic?re, present active infinitive of plic? (“to bend, fold, roll up”), from Proto-Indo-European *ple?- (“to fold, plait, weave”).

Noun

ply (countable and uncountable, plural ply or plies or plys)

1. A layer of material.
2. A strand that, twisted together with other strands, makes up rope or yarn.
3. (colloquial) Short for plywood.
4. (artificial intelligence, combinatorial game theory) In two-player sequential games, a "half-turn" or a move made by one of the players.
5. (now chiefly Scotland) A condition, a state.

Translations

Derived terms

• plywood

Etymology 2

From Middle English pl?en, pli, plie (“to bend, fold, mould, shape; to be flexible; to be submissive, humble oneself; to compel someone to submit”), from Anglo-Norman plier, plaier, pleier, ploier, and Middle French plier, ployer (“to bend, fold; to be submissive; to compel someone to submit”) (modern French plier, ployer), from Old French ploiier, pleier (“to fold”), from Latin plic?re (“to fold”); see further at etymology 1. The word is cognate with Catalan plegar (“to bend, fold”), Italian piegare (“to bend, fold, fold up”), Old Occitan plegar, plejar, pleyar (“to fold”) (modern Occitan plegar), Spanish plegar (“to fold”).

Verb

ply (third-person singular simple present plies, present participle plying, simple past and past participle plied)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To bend; to fold; to mould; (figuratively) to adapt, to modify; to change (a person's) mind, to cause (a person) to submit.
2. (intransitive) To bend, to flex; to be bent by something, to give way or yield (to a force, etc.).

Derived terms

• plier (agent noun)
• pliers

Translations

Etymology 3

From apply; compare Middle English pl?en, pli, plie, pleie (“to place (something) around, on, or over, to cover; to apply, use; to strive”), short for apl?en, appl?en (“to combine, join; to attach; to assemble; to use, be of use; to allot; to apply; to inflict; to go; to ply, steer; to comply, submit”), from Old French applier, aplier, aploier (“to bend; to apply”), from Latin applic?re, present active infinitive of applic? (“to apply; to attach, join; to add”), from ad- (“prefix meaning ‘to, towards’”) + plic? (“to bend, fold, roll up”); see further at etymology 1.

Verb

ply (third-person singular simple present plies, present participle plying, simple past and past participle plied)

1. (transitive) To work at (something) diligently.
2. (transitive) To wield or use (a tool, a weapon, etc.) steadily or vigorously.
3. (transitive) To press upon; to urge persistently.
4. (transitive) To persist in offering something to, especially for the purpose of inducement or persuasion.
5. (transitive, intransitive, transport) To travel over (a route) regularly.
6. (intransitive, obsolete) To work diligently.
7. (intransitive, nautical, obsolete) To manoeuvre a sailing vessel so that the direction of the wind changes from one side of the vessel to the other; to work to windward, to beat, to tack.

Translations

Noun

ply

1. A bent; a direction.

References

Further reading

• ply (layer) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• ply (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia