1.
[syn: please, delight]
2. be the will of or have the will (to);
- Example: "he could do many things if he pleased"
3. give satisfaction;
- Example: "The waiters around her aim to please"
ADVERB (1)
1. used in polite request;
- Example: "please pay attention"
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Please \Please\, v. i.
1. To afford or impart pleasure; to excite agreeable
emotions.
[1913 Webster]
What pleasing scemed, for her now pleases more.
--Milton.
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For we that live to please, must please to live.
--Johnson.
[1913 Webster]
2. To have pleasure; to be willing, as a matter of affording
pleasure or showing favor; to vouchsafe; to consent.
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Heavenly stranger, please to taste
These bounties. --Milton.
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That he would please 8give me my liberty. --Swift.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Please \Please\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Pleased; p. pr. & vb. n.
Pleasing.] [OE. plesen, OF. plaisir, fr. L. placere, akin
to placare to reconcile. Cf. Complacent, Placable,
Placid, Plea, Plead, Pleasure.]
1. To give pleasure to; to excite agreeable sensations or
emotions in; to make glad; to gratify; to content; to
satisfy.
[1913 Webster]
I pray to God that it may plesen you. --Chaucer.
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What next I bring shall please thee, be assured.
--Milton.
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2. To have or take pleasure in; hence, to choose; to wish; to
desire; to will.
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Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he. --Ps.
cxxxv. 6.
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A man doing as he wills, and doing as he pleases,
are the same things in common speech. --J. Edwards.
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3. To be the will or pleasure of; to seem good to; -- used
impersonally. "It pleased the Father that in him should
all fullness dwell." --Col. i. 19.
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To-morrow, may it please you. --Shak.
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To be pleased in or To be pleased with, to have
complacency in; to take pleasure in.
To be pleased to do a thing, to take pleasure in doing it;
to have the will to do it; to think proper to do it.
--Dryden.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
please
adv 1: used in polite request; "please pay attention"
v 1: give pleasure to or be pleasing to; "These colors please
the senses"; "a pleasing sensation" [syn: please,
delight] [ant: displease]
2: be the will of or have the will (to); "he could do many
things if he pleased"
3: give satisfaction; "The waiters around her aim to please"
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
67 Moby Thesaurus words for "please":
I beg you, amuse, be good enough, cater to, cheer, choose,
choose rather, coddle, content, cosset, delectate, delight, desire,
divert, do, elect, entertain, favor, give pleasure, give way to,
gladden, go over big, gratify, happify, have a bias,
have preference, have rather, have the goodness, hit the spot,
honor before, humor, if you please, indulge, interest,
lean towards, like, like better, make a hit, mollycoddle, oblige,
opt, overjoy, pamper, pleasure, pray, pray do, prefer, prefer to,
prithee, rather, regale, rejoice, satisfy, see fit, set before,
spoil, suit, think best, think fit, think proper, tickle,
titillate, want, will, will you, wish, yield to
The Devil's Dictionary (1881-1906):
PLEASE, v. To lay the foundation for a superstructure of imposition.