Part 338

Pleas"ure, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Pleasured (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Pleasuring.] To give or afford pleasure to; to please; to gratify. Shak.

Tennyson.

Pleas"ure, v. i. To take pleasure; to seek pursue pleasure; as, to go pleasuring.

Pleas"ure*ful (?), a. Affording pleasure. [R.]

Pleas"ure*less, a. Devoid of pleasure. G. Eliot.

Pleas"ur*er (?), n. A pleasure seeker. Dickens.

Pleas"ur*ist, n. A person devoted to worldly pleasure. [R.] Sir T. Browne.

Pleat (plt), n. & v. t. See Plait.

Plebe (plb), n. [F. plËbe, fr. L. plebs.] 1. The common people; the mob. [Obs.]

The plebe with thirst and fury prest.

Sylvester.

2. [Cf. Plebeian.] A member of the lowest class in the military academy at West Point. [Cant, U.S.]

Ple*be"ian (pl*b"yan), a. [L. plebeius, from plebs, plebis, the common people: cf. F. plÈbÈien.] 1. Of or pertaining to the Roman plebs, or common people.

2. Of or pertaining to the common people; vulgar; common; as, plebeian sports; a plebeian throng.

Ple*be"ian, n. 1. One of the plebs, or common people of ancient Rome, in distinction from patrician.

2. One of the common people, or lower rank of men.

Ple*be"iance (?), n. 1. Plebeianism. [Obs.]

2. Plebeians, collectively. [Obs.]

Ple*be"ian*ism (?), n. [Cf. F. plÈbÈianisme.] 1. The quality or state of being plebeian.

2. The conduct or manners of plebeians; vulgarity.

Ple*be"ian*ize (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Plebeianized (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Plebeianizing.] To render plebeian, common, or vulgar.

Ple*bic"o*list (?), n. [L. plebs the common people + colere to cultivate.] One who flatters, or courts the favor of, the common people; a demagogue. [R.]

Pleb`i*fi*ca"tion (?), n. [L. plebs the common people + -ficare (in comp.) to make. See -fy.] A rendering plebeian; the act of vulgarizing. [R.]

You begin with the attempt to popularize learning . . . but you will end in the plebification of knowledge.

Coleridge.

Ple*bis"ci*ta*ry (?), a. Of or pertaining to plebiscite. The Century.

Pleb"i*scite (?), n. [F. plÈbiscite, fr. L. plebiscitum.] A vote by universal male suffrage; especially, in France, a popular vote, as first sanctioned by the National Constitution of 1791. [Written also plebiscit.]

Plebiscite we have lately taken, in popular use, from the French.