Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To plait or interlace (branches or vines, for example), especially in making a hedge or an arbor.
  • transitive verb To shade or border with interlaced branches or vines.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To unite (the branches of shrubs, vines, etc.) by plaiting, weaving, or braiding together; plash; mingle.
  • To form by intermingling or interweaving.
  • To fold, as the arms.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To unite by interweaving, as branches of trees; to plash; to interlock.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive To unite by interweaving, as branches of trees; to plash; to interlock.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb interlace the shoots of
  • verb form or weave into a braid or braids

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English plechen, from Old North French plechier, probably from Latin plectere; see plek- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From an Old French variant of plessier ("plash"), from Proto-Romance plessier, from Latin plectō ("weave, plait").

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Examples

Comments

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  • See also citation on pleached.

    April 27, 2008

  • The only one left who could use a scythe

    in all Onibury, or pleach a hedge

    the old way: but could not understand

    how the electric cooker worked or

    (and this takes some believing) the light switched on -

    when his wife died he sat in the dark, hungry.

    Dialled the Surgery with my assistance,

    held the phone in two paws like a sad dog

    gnawing a bone, not knowing which end spoke.

    - Peter Reading, Bereft, in Tom O' Bedlam's Beauties (1981)

    June 22, 2008

  • Also, citation on tool.

    July 4, 2008

  • Pleach

    To shade or border with interlaced branches or vines.

    February 1, 2022