plead

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To appeal earnestly; beg: plead for more time.
2. v. To offer reasons for or against something; argue earnestly: plead against a bill.
3. v. To provide an argument or appeal: Your youth pleads for you in this instance.
4. v. Law To put forward a plea of a specific nature in court: plead guilty.
5. v. Law To make or answer an allegation in a legal proceeding.
6. v. Law To address a court as a lawyer or advocate.
7. v. To assert as defense, vindication, or excuse; claim as a plea: plead illness.
8. v. Law To present as an answer to a charge, indictment, or declaration made against one.
9. v. Law To argue or present (a case) in a court or similar tribunal.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. In law, to present an answer to the declaration or complaint of a plaintiff, or the charge of a prosecutor; deny the plaintiff's declaration or complaint, or allege facts relied on as showing that he ought not to recover in the suit. The plaintiff is said to declare, complain, or allege; the defendant pleads to his complaint or declaration. The crown or the stale prosecutes an olfender, and the offender pleads guilty or not guilty, confessing or denying the charge.
2. To urge a plea, an argument, or an excuse for or against a claim, or in support, justification, extenuation, etc.; endeavor to persuade by argument or supplication; urge reasons or use argument: as, to plead with a judge for a criminal or in his favor; to plead with a wrongdoer, urging him to reform.
3. To sue; make application; enter a plea or an argument.
4. To argue or prosecute causes; contend.
5. To discuss, defend, and attempt to maintain by arguments or reasons offered to the person or tribunal that has the power of determining; argue: as, to plead a cause before a court or jury.
6. To urge or allege in extenuation, justification, or defense; adduce in proof, support, or vindication: as, to plead poverty as an excuse for stealing.
7. To set forth in a plea or defense; interpose a plea of: as, to plead a statute of limitations.

Wiktionary

1. v. To present an argument, especially in a legal case.
2. v. To beg, beseech, or implore.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. To argue in support of a claim, or in defense against the claim of another; to urge reasons for or against a thing; to attempt to persuade one by argument or supplication; to speak by way of persuasion
2. v. (Law) To present an answer, by allegation of fact, to the declaration of a plaintiff; to deny the plaintiff's declaration and demand, or to allege facts which show that ought not to recover in the suit; in a less strict sense, to make an allegation of fact in a cause; to carry on the allegations of the respective parties in a cause; to carry on a suit or plea.
3. v. obsolete To contend; to struggle.
4. v. To discuss, defend, and attempt to maintain by arguments or reasons presented to a tribunal or person having uthority to determine; to argue at the bar.
5. v. To allege or cite in a legal plea or defense, or for repelling a demand in law; to answer to an indictment
6. v. To allege or adduce in proof, support, or vendication; to offer in excuse.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. appeal or request earnestly
2. v. make an allegation in an action or other legal proceeding, especially answer the previous pleading of the other party by denying facts therein stated or by alleging new facts
3. v. offer as an excuse or plea
4. v. enter a plea, as in courts of law