A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 1983 (DOST Vol. V).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1614-1669
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Ply, v.2 P.t. also plaid. [ME. and e.m.E. plyen (Chaucer), plie, ply, aphetic f. apply Apply v., to employ, to work busily at; also, after 1556, in various nautical applications.] a. tr. With cognate obj. To sail or move on (a course); to sail on (a voyage). b. To ply about, to tack. c. To study (a lesson) diligently; to apply oneself to. (See also Plying vbl. n.2) —a. c1614 Mure Dido & Æneas i. 97.
Their speedy cowrse amidst the maine they ply 1669 M. P. Brown Suppl. Decis. II. 454.
The ship was … made incapable to ply the said voyage —b. 1637 Rutherford Lett. (1891) 200.
I am often like a ship plying about to seek the wind —c. 1632 Fugitive Poetry II. viii. 128.
As bairne-like having plaid with feare My new set lesson
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"Ply v.2". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 14 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/ply_v_2>
