different between storey vs ply

English

Alternative forms

• story (US)

Etymology

From Middle English story, via Medieval Latin historia (“narrative, illustraton, frieze”) from Ancient Greek ??????? (historí?, “learning through research”), from ??????? (historé?, “to research, inquire (and record)”), from ????? (híst?r, “the knowing, wise one”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“to see, know”). The current sense arose from narrative friezes on upper levels of medieval buildings, esp. churches.

An alternative etymology derives Middle English story from Old French *estoree (“a thing built, building”), from estoree (“built”), feminine past participle of estorer (“to build”), from Latin instaurare (“to construct, build, erect”), but this seems unlikely since historia already had the meaning "storey of a building" in Anglo-Latin.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?st????/, /?st???i/
• Rhymes: -??ri
• Homophone: story

Noun

storey (plural storeys)

1. (obsolete) A building; an edifice.
2. (Britain) A floor or level of a building or ship.

   Synonyms: floor, level, (US) story

   Coordinate term: deck

3. (typography) A vertical level in certain letters, such as a and g.

Usage notes

The terms floor, level, or deck are used in a similar way, except that it is usual to talk of a “14-storey building”, but “the 14th floor”. The floor at ground or street level is called the ground floor in many places. The words storey and floor exclude levels of the building that are not covered by a roof, such as the terrace on the top roof of many buildings.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• storey on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Storey in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Anagrams

• Oyster, Troyes, oyster, oystre, toyers, tyroes

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