Definitions

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

  • transitive verb To promise or bind by a solemn pledge, especially to betroth.
  • transitive verb To give or pledge (one's word or oath, for example).
  • noun A solemn pledge, as of faith.
  • idiom (plight (one's) troth) To become engaged to marry.
  • idiom (plight (one's) troth) To give one's solemn oath.
  • noun A situation, especially a bad or unfortunate one. synonym: predicament.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A fold; a plait.
  • noun An obsolete preterit and past participle of pluck.
  • noun Condition; position; state; situation; predicament.
  • noun In particular— A bad condition or state; a distressed or distressing condition or predicament; misfortune.
  • noun A good condition or state.
  • noun Peril; danger; harm; damage.
  • noun A solemn promise or engagement concerning a matter of serious personal moment; solemn assurance or pledge.
  • To engage by solemn promise; pledge; engage or bind one's self by pledging: as, to plight one's hand, word, honor, faith, truth, vows, etc.
  • Synonyms Pledge, Plight. Pledge is applied to property as well as to word, faith, truth, honor, etc. Plight is now chiefly poetic or rhetorical; to plight honor is, as it were, to deposit it in pledge for the performance of an act—not often for the truth of a statement—to be forfeited if the act is not performed.
  • To weave; plait; fold. See plait.
  • To combine or put together in one's mind.

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

  • transitive verb To pledge; to give as a pledge for the performance of some act; as, to plight faith, honor, word; -- never applied to property or goods.
  • transitive verb To promise; to engage; to betroth.
  • imp. & p. p. of plight, to pledge.
  • noun That which is exposed to risk; that which is plighted or pledged; security; a gage; a pledge.
  • noun Condition; state; -- risk, or exposure to danger, often being implied.
  • transitive verb obsolete To weave; to braid; to fold; to plait.
  • noun obsolete A network; a plait; a fold; rarely a garment.
  • imp. & p. p. of pluck.

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

  • noun Responsibility for ensuing consequences; risk; danger; peril.
  • noun An instance of danger or peril; a dangerous moment or situation.
  • noun archaic That which is exposed to risk; that which is plighted or pledged; security; a gage; a pledge.
  • verb transitive To expose to risk; to pledge.
  • verb transitive Specifically, to pledge (one's troth etc.) as part of a marriage ceremony.
  • verb reflexive To promise (oneself) to someone, or to do something.
  • verb obsolete To weave; to braid; to fold; to plait.
  • noun obsolete A network; a plait; a fold; rarely a garment.

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

  • verb promise solemnly and formally
  • noun a solemn pledge of fidelity
  • verb give to in marriage
  • noun a situation from which extrication is difficult especially an unpleasant or trying one

Etymologies

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

[Middle English plighten, from Old English plihtan, to endanger, put at risk, from pliht, danger, risk; see dlegh- in Indo-European roots.]

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

[Middle English, alteration (influenced by plight, risky promise or pledge) of plit, fold, wrinkle, situation, from Anglo-Norman, from Latin plicitum, neuter past participle of plicāre, to fold; see plek- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle English plit ("fold, wrinkle, bad situation"), conflation of Middle English pliht, plight ("risky promise, peril") (from Old English pliht "danger, risk") and Anglo-Norman plit, plyte ("fold, condition"), from Old French pleit ("condition, manner of folding") (from Vulgar Latin *plictum, from Latin plicitum ("fold")).

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English plight ("risk, danger"), from Old English pliht ("peril, risk, danger, damage, plight"), from Proto-Germanic *plihtiz (“care, responsibility, duty”). A suffixed form of the root represented by Old English pleoh ("risk, danger, hurt, peril"; also "responsibility") and plēon ("to endanger, risk"). Akin to Old English plihtan ("to endanger, compromise"). Cognate with Dutch plicht, Low German plicht ("duty"), German Pflicht ("duty"). More at pledge.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Through Old French from Latin plectare. German flechten ("to plait") and Danish flette are probably unrelated.

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