Webster
✕

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Plaint

Plaint (plānt), n. [OE. plainte, pleynte, F. plainte, fr. L. plangere, planctum (plancta, fem. p. p.), to beat, beat the breast, lament. Cf. Complain, Plague, Plangent.] 1. Audible expression of sorrow; lamentation; complaint; hence, a mournful song; a lament. Chaucer."The Psalmist's mournful plaint." Wordsworth.

2. An accusation or protest on account of an injury.

There are three just grounds of war with Spain: one of plaint, two upon defense. Bacon.

3. (Law) A private memorial tendered to a court, in which a person sets forth his cause of action; the exhibiting of an action in writing. Blackstone.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty.