different between command vs plea

English

Etymology

From Middle English commanden, commaunden, comaunden, comanden, from Old French comander (modern French commander), from Vulgar Latin *commandare, from Latin commendare, from com- + mandare, from mand? (“I order, command”). Compare commend (a doublet), and mandate.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /k??m??nd/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /k??mænd/
• Hyphenation: com?mand

Noun

command (countable and uncountable, plural commands)

1. An order to do something.

   I was given a command to cease shooting.

2. The right or authority to order, control or dispose of; the right to be obeyed or to compel obedience.

   to have command of an army
3. power of control, direction or disposal; mastery.

   he had command of the situation

   England has long held command of the sea

   a good command of language
4. A position of chief authority; a position involving the right or power to order or control.

   General Smith was placed in command.

5. The act of commanding; exercise or authority of influence.
   • 1851, Herbert Spencer, Social Statics, p. 180

     Command cannot be otherwise than savage, for it implies an appeal to force, should force be needful.

6. (military) A body or troops, or any naval or military force, under the control of a particular officer; by extension, any object or body in someone's charge.
7. Dominating situation; range or control or oversight; extent of view or outlook.
8. (computing) A directive to a computer program acting as an interpreter of some kind, in order to perform a specific task.
9. (baseball) The degree of control a pitcher has over his pitches.

   He's got good command tonight.

10. A command performance.
    • 1809, Dorothy Jordan, letter, cited in Claire Tomalin, Mrs Jordan's Profession, Penguin 2012, p. 220:

      Atkinson […] had hinted to me that the Duke of Richmond was so delighted with my acting that he should not be surprised if there was a second command.

Translations

See also

• imperative mood

References

• Command on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Verb

command (third-person singular simple present commands, present participle commanding, simple past and past participle commanded)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To order, give orders; to compel or direct with authority.

   The soldier was commanded to cease firing.

   The king commanded his servant to bring him dinner.

   • 1625, Francis Bacon, Of Revenge

     We are commanded to forgive our enemies, but you never read that we are commanded to forgive our friends.
2. (transitive, intransitive) To have or exercise supreme power, control or authority over, especially military; to have under direction or control.

   to command an army or a ship
3. (transitive) To require with authority; to demand, order, enjoin.

   he commanded silence

   • 2013, Louise Taylor, English talent gets left behind as Premier League keeps importing (in The Guardian, 20 August 2013)[1]

     The reasons for this growing disconnect are myriad and complex but the situation is exacerbated by the reality that those English players who do smash through our game's "glass ceiling" command radically inflated transfer fees.

4. (transitive) to dominate through ability, resources, position etc.; to overlook.

   Bridges commanded by a fortified house. (Motley.)

5. (transitive) To exact, compel or secure by influence; to deserve, claim.

   A good magistrate commands the respect and affections of the people.

   Justice commands the respect and affections of the people.

   The best goods command the best price.

   This job commands a salary of £30,000.

6. (transitive) To hold, to control the use of.

   The fort commanded the bay.

   • Two wooden bridges led across the river; each was commanded by a fortified house

   • December 1699, Joseph Addison, letter to William Congreve

     One [side] commands a view of the finest garden.

   • 1834, The Hobart Town Magazine (volume 2, page 323)

     […] they made considerable progress in the art of embalming the wild fruits of their native land, so that they might command cranberries and hindberries at all times and seasons.

7. (intransitive, archaic) To have a view, as from a superior position.
8. (obsolete) To direct to come; to bestow.

Synonyms

• (give an order): decree, order

Translations

Derived terms

References

• command in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• “command”, in OED Online ?, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000

English

Etymology

From Middle English ple, from Old French plait, plaid, from Medieval Latin placitum (“a decree, sentence, suit, plea, etc., Latin an opinion, determination, prescription, order; literally, that which is pleasing, pleasure”), neuter of placitus, past participle of placere (“to please”). Cognate with Spanish pleito (“lawsuit, suit”). Doublet of placit and placate. See also please, pleasure.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pli?/
• Rhymes: -i?

Noun

plea (plural pleas)

1. An appeal, petition, urgent prayer or entreaty.

   a plea for mercy

2. An excuse; an apology.
   • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost IV.393

     Necessity, the tyrant’s plea.
3. That which is alleged or pleaded, in defense or in justification.
4. (law) That which is alleged by a party in support of his cause.
5. (law) An allegation of fact in a cause, as distinguished from a demurrer.
6. (law) The defendant’s answer to the plaintiff’s declaration and demand.
7. (law) A cause in court; a lawsuit; as, the Court of Common Pleas.
   • 1782, "An Act establishing a Supreme Judicial Court within the Commonwealth", quoted in The Constitutional History of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Frank Washburn Grinnell, 1917, page 434

     they or any three of them shall be a Court and have cognizance of pleas real, personal, and mixed.

Usage notes

In 19th-century U.K. law, that which the plaintiff alleges in his declaration is answered and repelled or justified by the defendant’s plea. In chancery practice, a plea is a special answer showing or relying upon one or more things as a cause why the suit should be either dismissed, delayed, or barred. In criminal practice, the plea is the defendant’s formal answer to the indictment or information presented against him/her.

Related terms

• pleas of the crown
• plead
• pleasant
• please
• pleasurable
• pleasure

Synonyms

• plaidoyer

Translations

Verb

plea (third-person singular simple present pleas, present participle pleaing, simple past and past participle pleaed)

1. (chiefly England regional, Scotland) To plead; to argue. [from 15th c.]
   • 1824, James Hogg, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner:

     With my riches, my unhappiness was increased tenfold; and here, with another great acquisition of property, for which I had pleaed, and which I had gained in a dream, my miseries and difficulties were increasing.

Further reading

• plea in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• plea in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• plea at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• Alep, LEAP, Lape, Leap, Peal, e-pal, leap, pale, pale-, peal, pela