From Middle English plasch, plasche, plash, plashe (“pool of standing water, marshy place; torrent of water (?)”), from Late Old English plæsċ, plesċ (“pool; puddle”), probably from Proto-West Germanic *plask (“pool”); further etymology unknown, probably ultimately onomatopoeic, referring to the sound of splashing.
cognates
* German platschen (“to splash”)
* Middle Dutch plasch, plas (“pool”) (modern Dutch plas (“pool, watering hole”), plassen (“to splash, splatter”); Middle French plache (“pool”), plascq (“damp meadow”); Anglo-Norman plasseis (“marshes”, plural))
* West Frisian plaskje (“to splash, splatter”)
Meanings
(Midlands, North, Northern-England, countable) A small pool of standing water; a marshy pond; also, a puddle; (uncountable) marshy land; mire.
And ſo than they of Bruges began to ſhote gonnes at thẽ. And than they of Gaũt diſcharged at ones thre .C. gonnes at one ſhotte: and ſo tourned a bout the plaſſhe of water and cauſed the ſon⸝ to be in the eyen of thẽ of Bruges⸝ the which greued them ſore: […] 1523 February 7 (Gregorian calendar), Johan Froyssart [i.e., Jean Froissart], “Of the Order of the Batayle of the Gauntoise⸝ and Howe They Discõfited [Discomfited] the Erle and Them of Bruges⸝ and by what Meanes”, in Here Begynneth the First Volum of Sir Johan Froyssart: Of the Cronycles of Englande⸝ Fraunce⸝ Spayne⸝ Portyngale⸝ Scotlande⸝ Bretayne⸝ Flañders: And Other Places Adioynynge. […], 1st volume, London: […] Richarde Pynson⸝ […], →OCLC; reprinted as The First Volum of Sir Johan Froyssart of the Chronycles of Englande⸝ Fraunce⸝ Spayne (The English Experience […]; no. 257), Amsterdam: Theatrum Orbis Terrarum; New York, N.Y.: Da Capo Press, 1970, →ISBN, folio cclxxx, verso, column 2:
Hereof Aeſope framed the fable of the tvvo Frogges that conſulted together in time of drovvth (vvhen many plaſhes that they had repayred to vvere dry) vvhat vvas to be done, and the one propounded to go dovvn into a deep VVell, becauſe it vvas like the vvater vvould not faile there, but the other anſvvered, yea but if it doe faile, hovv ſhal vve get vp againe? And the reaſon is, that humane actions are ſo vncertaine and ſubiect to perils, as that ſeemeth the beſt courſe vvhich hath moſt paſſages out of it. 1597, Fran[cis] Bacon, “Of the Colours of Good and Evill, a Fragment”, in Essaies. […], London: […] Iohn Windet for Humfrey Hooper […], published 1598, →OCLC:
[…] Arthur with a hundred spears / Rode far, till o'er the illimitable reed, / And many a glancing plash and sallowy isle, / The wide-wing'd sunset of the misty marsh / Glared on a huge machicolated tower […] 1875, Alfred Tennyson, “The Last Tournament”, in Idylls of the King (The Works of Alfred Tennyson; VII), cabinet edition, London: Henry S. King & Co., […], →OCLC, page 51:
[I]t is plain that we should much more dislike, abominate, and shun spiritual evils than temporal; […] that we should run willingly into these shallow plashes of present inconvenience, rather than plunge ourselves into those unfathomable depths of eternal misery. a. 1678 (date written), Isaac Barrow, “Sermon XLVII. The Consideration of our Latter End.”, in The Works of Dr. Isaac Barrow. […], volume III, London: A[braham] J[ohn] Valpy, […], published 1831, →OCLC, page 223:
The fellow then went to ride him through a great plash of water, "and in the middle of it he found himself with nothing but a pack-saddle between his legs, while Robin went off laughing, Ho, ho, hoh!. 1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 287:
Out of the vvound the redblood flovved freſh, / That vnderneath his feet ſoone made a purple pleſh. 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 36, page 301:
Who were the strugglers, what war did they wage / Whose savage trample thus could pad the dank / Soil to a plash? 1855, Robert Browning, “‘Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came.’”, in Men and Women […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, stanza 22, page 144:
fi hete (small pool of standing water; marshy pond) · pl bajoro (small pool of standing water; marshy pond) · fi rapakko (small pool of standing water; marshy pond)
Probably onomatopoeic, referring to the sound of splashing. The noun is attested earlier than the verb. It is not clear whether this word is related to plash (“small pool of standing water”) (see etymology 1). The interjection is derived from the noun.
As regards the noun, compare German Platsch (noun), platsch (interjection). As regards the verb, compare Early Dutch plasschen, plassen (“to splash in water”); Middle Low German plasken, plassen (“to splash”); Swedish plaska (“to splash”).
Meanings
(obsolete) Used to represent the sound made by something hitting the surface of water or some other liquid, or by water or some other liquid hitting something.
In the ooze generally the water comes half-way up the shoe, and we go plash, plash, plash, in the lawn-like glade. 1867 January 9 (date written), David Livingstone, chapter VII, in The Last Journals of David Livingstone, in Central Africa, from 1865 to His Death. […], volume I, London: John Murray, […], published 1874, →OCLC, page 172:
Probably onomatopoeic, referring to the sound of splashing. The noun is attested earlier than the verb. It is not clear whether this word is related to plash (“small pool of standing water”) (see etymology 1). The interjection is derived from the noun.
As regards the noun, compare German Platsch (noun), platsch (interjection). As regards the verb, compare Early Dutch plasschen, plassen (“to splash in water”); Middle Low German plasken, plassen (“to splash”); Swedish plaska (“to splash”).
Meanings
A sound made by something hitting the surface of water or some other liquid, or by water or some other liquid hitting something; also, an act causing this sound; a splash.
Presently a gondola passed along the canal with its slow rhythmical plash, and as we listened we watched it in silence. 1888 September 29, Henry James, “[The Aspern Papers.] Chapter VIII.”, in The Aspern Papers; Louisa Pallant; The Modern Warning, London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 105:
[D]own burst torrents of thick rain and muddied us to the skin. The valley began to run in plashes of water, and Dakhil-Allah urged us across it quickly. 1922 (date written; published 1926), T[homas] E[dward] Lawrence, “Book III: A Railway Diversion. Chapter XXXV.”, in Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Doran & Company, published 1937, →OCLC, page 206:
The short dark waves, heaved to the land, / With ceaseless plash kiss'd cliff or sand;— […] 1815, Walter Scott, “Canto Third”, in The Lord of the Isles, a Poem, Edinburgh: […] [F]or Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown; by James Ballantyne and Co., […], →OCLC, stanza XXVIII, page 117:
The mildew drops fell one by one, / With tinkling plash, upon the stone. 1808 February 22, Walter Scott, “Canto Fifth. The Court.”, in Marmion; a Tale of Flodden Field, Edinburgh: […] J[ames] Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Company, […]; London: William Miller, and John Murray, →OCLC, stanza XVIII, page 97:
One ſhip that Lycius did ſhrowd with faithful Orontes / In ſight of captayne was ſwaſht with a royſterus heapefloud. / Downe the pilot tumbleth with plaſh round ſummoned headlong, / Thriſe the grauel thumping in whirlpoole plunged, is hooule'd: […] 1582, “The Firste Booke of Virgil His Æneis”, in Richard Stanyhurst, transl., The First Foure Bookes of Virgils Æneis, […], London: […] Henrie Bynneman […], published 1583, →OCLC, page 3:
Mr Christian here let a lemon slip from his hand into the punch-bowl with a plash which sent some of the nectar into the company's faces. 1866, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter VII, in Felix Holt, the Radical […], volume I, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, page 185:
(UK, dialectal) A heavy fall of rain; a downpour.
Penthouses five stories high, not so much for the protection of the people in the street as to keep the plash of heavy rain from the house windows, so that these might be the more safely open. 1887, John Ruskin, “The Simplon”, in Præterita. Outlines of Scenes and Thoughts Perhaps Worthy of Memory in My Past Life, volume II, Orpington, Kent: George Allen, →OCLC, page 162:
(figuratively, obsolete, rare) A splash of light on a surface.
The waterfall, scattering its vanishing gems; the tall grove of hemlocks, with moss on their stems, like plashes of sunlight; […] 1848 October 21, [James Russell Lowell], “A Preliminary Note to the Second Edition”, in […] A Fable for Critics; or, […] A Glance at a Few of our Literary Progenies […], 2nd edition, New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam […], published 1848, →OCLC, page [5]:
Probably onomatopoeic, referring to the sound of splashing. The noun is attested earlier than the verb. It is not clear whether this word is related to plash (“small pool of standing water”) (see etymology 1). The interjection is derived from the noun.
As regards the noun, compare German Platsch (noun), platsch (interjection). As regards the verb, compare Early Dutch plasschen, plassen (“to splash in water”); Middle Low German plasken, plassen (“to splash”); Swedish plaska (“to splash”).
Meanings
(also, figuratively, transitive) To hit (someone or something) with water or some other liquid, causing a splashing sound; to splash.
When the halcyon is sporting far out on the seas, / In the beach's bright ripple thou plashest thy wings, / And tossest the spray from the shore-eddied rings. 1850 April, W. F. Jones, Jr., “The Sea-gull”, in B[enjamin] F[ranklin] Tefft, editor, The Ladies’ Repository: A Monthly Periodical Devoted to Literature and Religion, volume X, Cincinnati, Oh.: L. Swormstedt and J. H. Power; […], →OCLC, page 120, column 2:
(also, figuratively, transitive) To hit (someone or something) with water or some other liquid, causing a splashing sound; to splash. ▸ To splash or sprinkle (a surface, such as a wall) with a liquid colouring matter.
to plash a wall in imitation of granite
(Shetland, archaic, transitive) To agitate or plunge into (water or some other liquid), causing it to splash.
Then, loa ye, from Tenedos through ſtanding deepe floud apeaſed^([sic – meaning appeared?]) / (I ſhiuer in telling) two ſerpents monſterus ouglie / Plaſht the water ſulcking to the ſhoare moſt haſtily ſwinging. 1582, “The Second Booke of Virgil His Æneis”, in Richard Stanyhurst, transl., The First Foure Bookes of Virgils Æneis, […], London: […] Henrie Bynneman […], published 1583, →OCLC, page 27:
"[…] We must go and plash up the mud a little, mustn't we, Juno?" This was addressed to the brown setter, who had jumped up at the sound of the voices and laid her nose in an insinuating way on her master's leg. 1859, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], “The Rector”, in Adam Bede […], volume I, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book first, page 97:
[U]nleſs they lay themſelves dovvn to be trampl'd under foot, plaſh'd like Mortar, or abjure their Religion, the ſame Calamities, the ſame Slaughters, hang over their Heads, […] 1658 May (date written), John Milton, “[Letters Written in the Name of Oliver [Cromwell] the Protector.] To the Evangelick Cities of the Switzers.”, in [Edward Phillips], transl., Letters of State, […], to Most of the Sovereign Princes and Republicks of Europe. From the Year 1649. Till the Year 1659. […], London: [s.n.], published 1694, →OCLC, page 296:
(intransitive) To hit the surface of water or some other liquid, causing a splashing sound; also, to move in water with a splashing sound; to splash.
[O]n and onward still thou [a deer] dashedst, / And in the lake's blue calmness plashedst, / As if by hound pursu'd. 1825 June, A. H., “Recollections”, in The Oxford Quarterly Magazine, volume I, number II, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Talboys and Wheeler, sold by W[illiam] Pickering, […], page 161:
The two long oars plashed in the silence, we glided onwards through the cold mists, and the woods of the opposite shore were now coming near. 1872, William Black, “‘La patrie en danger’”, in The Strange Adventures of a Phaeton. […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 319:
Thro thick and thin they ſcour'd about, / Plaſhin thro Dubs and Sykes, […] 1718, Allan Ramsay, “Christ’s-Kirk on the Green, in Three Cantos”, in Poems, 5th edition, Edinburgh: Printed for the author […] [and sold by T. Jauncy […]], published 1722, →OCLC, canto III, page 117:
As she walked towards the lane that morning, how well she remembered each spot as she passed it, and the look it wore for the last time! How the smoke was rising from the pastures, how the fish were jumping and plashing in the millstream! 1839 May – 1840 February, Ikey Solomons, Jun. [pseudonym; William Makepeace Thackeray], “Catherine: A Story. Chapter VIII. Enumerates the Accomplishments of Master Thomas Billings—Introduces Brock as Dr. Wood—and Announces the Execution of Ensign Macshane.”, in Catherine: A Story. Little Travels. The Fitz-Boodle Papers. etc. etc. (Works of William Makepeace Thackeray in Twenty-four Volumes; 22), London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], published 1869, →OCLC, page 115:
At last, by hap, through some young trees it [a lance] struck, / And, plashing among bedded pebbles, stuck / In the middle of a brook,— […] 1818, John Keats, “Book I”, in Endymion: A Poetic Romance, London: […] T[homas] Miller, […] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC, page 47, lines 932–934:
[W]e plashed through the burn and off-saddled on the green of Clatteringshaws. 1936 July, John Buchan, “The Dog Samr”, in The Island of Sheep, London: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC, part II (Laverlaw), page 188:
(also, figuratively, intransitive) Of water or some other liquid: to hit something, or to move about, with a splashing sound; to splash.
[T]he ſalt vvater plaſhes and froaths to ſee it ſelf ſo ſuddenly reſiſted: but the moiſt breath uſually vaporing in or upon the Seas makes it ſometimes turbulent. 1677, Tho[mas] Herbert, “[Saint Helena]”, in Some Yeares Travels into Divers Parts of Africa, and Asia the Great. […], 4th edition, London: […] R. Everingham, for R. Scot, T. Basset, J[ohn] Wright, and R. Chiswell, →OCLC, page 392:
The stream is so slender, that the gentlest breeze suffices to disturb its descent, and to scatter its pure sweet waters over the face of the cliff. But in that deep forest there is seldom a breath of wind; so that, plashing continually upon one spot, the fount has worn its own little channel of white sand, by which it finds its way to the river. 1828, Nathaniel Hawthorne, chapter VIII, in Fanshawe and Other Pieces, Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, published 1876, →OCLC, page 146:
[H]eedless of my expostulations and the growling thunder, and the great drops that began to plash around her, she remained calling, at intervals, and then listening, and then crying outright. 1847 December, Ellis Bell [pseudonym; Emily Brontë], chapter IX, in Wuthering Heights: […], volume I, London: Thomas Cautley Newby, […], →OCLC, page 188:
Far below him plashed the waters, / Plashed and washed the dreamy waters; […] 1855 November 10, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “Pau-Puk-Keewis”, in The Song of Hiawatha, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 222:
(Shetland, archaic, intransitive) To hit someone or something with water or some other liquid, causing a splashing sound.
In clammie waies he treaddeth by and by, / And plasheth and sprayeth all that be him nye. c. 1592–1593 (date written), Thomas Nash[e], “The Choosing of Valentines”, in John S[tephen] Farmer, editor, The Choise of Valentines: Or The Merie Ballad of Nash His Dildo […], London: Privately printed for subscribers only, published 1899, →OCLC, page 21, lines 281–282:
For blood of Martyrs vvell is ſaid to be the Churches Seede, / VVhere Maſſacres haue plaſhed there is ſpread a triple Breede. 1602, William Warner, “The Tenth Booke. Chapter LVII.”, in Albions England. A Continued Historie of the Same Kingdome, from the Originals of the First Inhabitants thereof: […], 5th edition, London: […] Edm[und] Bollifant for George Potter, […], →OCLC, page 251:
pl bryznąć ((transitive) to agitate or plunge into (water or some other liquid), causing it to splash) · pl chlupnąć ((transitive) to agitate or plunge into (water or some other liquid), causing it to splash) · pl chlapać ((transitive) to agitate or plunge into (water or some other liquid), causing it to splash) · pl chlapnąć ((transitive) to agitate or plunge into (water or some other liquid), causing it to splash) · pl bryzgnąć ((transitive) to agitate or plunge into (water or some other liquid), causing it to splash) · pl pluskać ((transitive) to agitate or plunge into (water or some other liquid), causing it to splash) · fi läiskähtää ((transitive) to agitate or plunge into (water or some other liquid), causing it to splash) · pl chlupać ((transitive) to agitate or plunge into (water or some other liquid), causing it to splash) · pl zachlupotać ((transitive) to agitate or plunge into (water or some other liquid), causing it to splash) · pl plusnąć ((transitive) to agitate or plunge into (water or some other liquid), causing it to splash) · pl bryzgać ((transitive) to agitate or plunge into (water or some other liquid), causing it to splash) · pl chlupotać ((transitive) to agitate or plunge into (water or some other liquid), causing it to splash)
The verb is derived from Late Middle English *plashen (attested by the present participle form plashynge), from Anglo-Norman plaissier, plaisser, Old French plaissier, plaisser, and Old French plaissier (“to bend; to interlace”) (modern French plaisser (regional)), from Late Latin *plaxus, a variant of Latin plexus, the perfect passive participle of plectō (“to braid, plait, weave; to bend; to turn; to twist”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ- (“to fold; to plait, weave”). Doublet of pleach.
The noun is derived from the verb.
cognates
* Old French plesce (“enclosure surrounded by hedges”) (Middle French plesse, Middle English plaishes (“hedges forming an enclosure, palisade of hedges or wattles”), modern French plaisse, plesse (“enclosure surrounded by hedges; hedge; branch of a hedge”))
Meanings
(UK, archaic, dialectal, transitive) A plant stem which has been partly cut, bent down, and intertwined with other stems to make or repair a hedge; also, a bush, hedge, etc., which has been pleached in this manner; a pleach.
In the plaſhing of your Quick, avoid tvvo extreams, firſt the laying of it too lovv and too thick, vvhich makes the Sap run all into the Shoots, and leaves the plaſhes vvithout nouriſhment, vvhich vvith the thickneſs of the Hedge kills them: Secondly, avoid the laying of them too high, as is commonly uſed in the North, vvhich dravvs all the Sap into the plaſhes, and ſo makes but ſmall Shoots at the bottom, and by that means makes the Hedges ſo thin, that it neither preſerves it ſelf from the Cattles croping, nor prevents their going through: […] 1707, J[ohn] Mortimer, “Of Inclosing of Land”, in The Whole Art of Husbandry; or, The Way of Managing and Improving of Land. […], London: […] J[ohn] H[umphreys] for H[enry] Mortlock […], and J[onathan] Robinson […], →OCLC, page 8:
[T]he freſh fragrant flovvers of Divine Poeſie and Morall Philoſophy could not like vvell to be removed, nor tranſported to thoſe thorny places and plaſhes of the Lavv. 1638, Ri[chard] Brathwait, “Holy Memorials; or Heavenly Memento’s. His Life. Memoriall IX.”, in A Spiritual Spicerie: Containing Sundrie Sweet Tractates of Devotion and Piety, London: […] I[ohn] H[aviland] for George Hutton […], →OCLC, page 427:
fi punottu varsi (plant stem which has been partly cut, bent down, and intertwined with other stems to make or repair a hedge) · pl nacięta i przygięta gałąź (plant stem which has been partly cut, bent down, and intertwined with other stems to make or repair a hedge)
The verb is derived from Late Middle English *plashen (attested by the present participle form plashynge), from Anglo-Norman plaissier, plaisser, Old French plaissier, plaisser, and Old French plaissier (“to bend; to interlace”) (modern French plaisser (regional)), from Late Latin *plaxus, a variant of Latin plexus, the perfect passive participle of plectō (“to braid, plait, weave; to bend; to turn; to twist”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ- (“to fold; to plait, weave”). Doublet of pleach.
The noun is derived from the verb.
cognates
* Old French plesce (“enclosure surrounded by hedges”) (Middle French plesse, Middle English plaishes (“hedges forming an enclosure, palisade of hedges or wattles”), modern French plaisse, plesse (“enclosure surrounded by hedges; hedge; branch of a hedge”))
Meanings
(UK, dialectal, transitive) Synonym of pleach (“to make or repair (a hedge) by partly cutting plant stems, bending them down, and intertwining them with other stems”).
[T]here was not, at this season, a green pasture—nothing but fallow and turnips everywhere; in large fields divided by hedges plashed to unrelieved levels. 1891, Thomas Hardy, chapter XLII, in Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented […], volume III, London: James R[ipley] Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., […], →OCLC, phase the fifth (The Woman Pays), page 41:
It is almoſt incredible to vvhat perfection ſome had laid theſe Hedges, by the rural vvay of plaſhing, better than by clipping; […] 1670, John Evelyn, “Of Fences, Quick-sets, &c.”, in Sylva, or A Discourse of Forest-trees and the Propagation of Timber in His Majesties Dominions. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Jo[hn] Martyn, and Ja[mes] Allestry, printers to the Royal Society, →OCLC, page 96:
[I]n the months of Ianuarie and Februarie he ſhall firſt plaſh and cut his Hedges and Quick-ſets, that thereby they may grovv thicke and ſtrong at the bottomes: […] 1616, Charles Steuens [i.e., Charles Estienne]; John Liebault [i.e., Jean Liébault]; Gervase Markham, “The Dutie of a Father of a Familie, or Householder”, in Richard Surflet, transl., Maison Rustique, or, The Countrey Farme. […], new edition, London: […] Adam Jslip for John Bill, →OCLC, book I, page 20:
(obsolete, transitive) To bend down and intertwine (branches or stems of plants, etc.) to make or repair a hedge.
Some againe plant Cornell Trees, and plaſh them, or keepe them lovve, to forme them into an hedge. 1629, John Parkinson, “The Many Sorts of Herbes and Other Things, wherewith the Beds and Parts of Knots are Bordered to Set out the Forme of Them, with Their Commodities and Discommodities”, in Paradisi in Sole Paradisus Terrestris. […], London: […] Hvmfrey Lownes and Robert Yovng […], →OCLC, pages 7–8:
There were few trees, or none, those that would have grown in the hedges being mercilessly plashed down with the quickset by the tenant-farmers, the natural enemies of tree, bush, and brake 1891, Thomas Hardy, chapter XLII, in Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented […], volume III, London: James R[ipley] Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., […], →OCLC, phase the fifth (The Woman Pays), pages 35–36:
[C]utting yong trees half a ſunder and bowyng downe theyr toppes to the ground, and plaſſhing the boughes that growe thicke oute of the ſydes wyth buſhes and thornes betwene thẽ [them], they brought to paſſe that theis [these] hedges were as good a defence to them as a wal: […] 1565, Caius Julius Caesar, “The Second Boke”, in Arthur Golding, transl., The Eyght Bookes of Caius Julius Cæsar Conteyning His Martiall Exploytes in the Realme of Gallia and the Countries Bordering vppon the Same […], London: […] Willyam Seres, […], →OCLC, folio 54, verso:
(obsolete, qualifier:generally, transitive) To bend down and intertwine (branches or stems of plants, etc.) to make or repair a hedge. ▸ To bend down (a bush, tree, or other plant).
You knovv that there vvas an Orchard on the left hand, and ſome of the Trees hung over the VVall, and my Brother did plaſh and did eat. 1684, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress. From This World to That which is to Come: The Second Part. […], London: […] Nathaniel Ponder […], →OCLC, page 83:
[L]et him plaſh dovvn ſmall Tvvigs, ſome above and ſome belovv, and then vvhilſt the Hound is hot, beat the outſides, and make his Ring-VValks tvvice or thrice about the VVood, 1725, [Noël] Chomel, “HART, or Stag Hunting”, in R[ichard] Bradley, editor, Dictionaire Oeconomique: Or, The Family Dictionary. […], volume I (A–H), London: […] D[aniel] Midwinter, […], →OCLC, signature Uuu3, recto, column 2:
(obsolete, transitive) To intertwine (branches or stems of plants) on a trellis; to trellis; also, to train (a tree or other plant) to grow against a wall; to espalier.
[A]s your Uine groweth you ſhall draw it through thoſe holes, and as you vſe to plaſh a Uine againſt a wall, ſo you ſhall plaſh this againſt the glaſſe window, on the in-ſide, and ſo ſoone as it ſhall beginne to beare Grapes you ſhall be ſure to turne euery bunch, ſo that it may lye cloſe to the glaſſe, that the reflection of the Sunne heating the glaſſe, that heate may haſten on the ripening, ⁊ increaſe the groath of your Grapes: […] 1613, G[ervase] M[arkham], “How to Make Grapes Grow as Bigge, Full, and as Naturally, and to Ripen in as Due Season, and be as Long Lasting as Either in Fraunce or Spaine”, in The English Husbandman. The First Part: […], London: […] T[homas] S[nodham] for Iohn Browne, […], →OCLC, 2nd part (Contayning the Art of Planting, Grafting and Gardening, […], page 131:
(obsolete, qualifier:generally, transitive) To intertwine (branches or stems of plants) on a trellis; to trellis; also, to train (a tree or other plant) to grow against a wall; to espalier. ▸ To intertwine (branches, flowers, etc.) together; to interweave.
(obsolete, transitive) To intertwine branches or stems of plants of (a wood) to block a passage for defensive purposes.