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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. An action calculated to frustrate an opponent or gain an advantage indirectly or deviously; a maneuver: "A typical ploy is to feign illness, procure medicine, then sell it on the black market” ( Jill Smolowe).

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. Employment.
  2. n. A harmless frolic; a merrymaking.
  3. Milit., to move from line into column: the opposite of deploy.

Wiktionary

  1. n. A tactic, strategy, or gimmick.
  2. v. To flex.
  3. v. To curve.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. Sport; frolic.
  2. v. To form a column from a line of troops on some designated subdivision; -- the opposite of deploy.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. a maneuver in a game or conversation
  2. n. an opening remark intended to secure an advantage for the speaker

Etymologies

  1. Perhaps from employ, employment (obsolete).

Examples

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‘ploy’ has been looked up 2051 times, loved by 2 people, added to 18 lists, and has a Scrabble score of 9.