ploy en · NOUN · etymology 1
Pronunciation
- /plɔɪ/
- (Southern-England) audio
Etymology
Possibly from a shortened form of employ or deploy. Or from earlier ploye, from Middle English, borrowed from Middle French ployer (compare modern plier), from Latin plicāre.
Meanings
-
(countable, uncountable) A tactic, strategy, or scheme.
Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers.[…]Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster. Clever financial ploys are what have made billionaires of the industry’s veterans. “Operational improvement” in a portfolio company has often meant little more than promising colossal bonuses to sitting chief executives if they meet ambitious growth targets. That model is still prevalent today.
2013 June 22, “Engineers of a different kind”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 70:The free T-shirt is really a ploy to get you inside to see their sales pitch.
'Bide here,' he says, 'and boil the wine till I return. This is a ploy of my own on which no man follows me.' And there was that in his face, as he spoke, which chilled the wildest, and left them well content to keep to the good claret and the saft seat, and let the daft laird go his own ways.
1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:Near-synonyms: ruse, stratagem, device
- (Scotland, UK, countable, dialectal, uncountable) Sport; frolic.
- (countable, obsolete, uncountable) Employment.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| ploys | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Deriveds
counterploy · Trollope ploy · ratings ploy
Synonyms
Translations (37)
mi nuka (strategy, tactic) · mi tiriki (strategy, tactic) · bg трик (strategy, tactic) · nl kunstgreep (strategy, tactic) · cs trik (strategy, tactic) · tr hile (strategy, tactic) · de Trick (strategy, tactic) · bg маневра (strategy, tactic) · de Masche (strategy, tactic) · sv trick (strategy, tactic) · es complot (strategy, tactic) · de Manöver (strategy, tactic) · sv knep (strategy, tactic) · pt estratagema (strategy, tactic) · el τέχνασμα (strategy, tactic) · fr ruse (strategy, tactic) · fr manigance (strategy, tactic) · nl tactiek (strategy, tactic) · fr truc (strategy, tactic) · ota اورند (strategy, tactic) · es táctica (strategy, tactic) · ko 꼼수 (strategy, tactic) · cs manévr (strategy, tactic) · mi rauhanga (strategy, tactic) · ru уло́вка (strategy, tactic) · fr stratagème (strategy, tactic) · es trafa (strategy, tactic) · es estrategia (strategy, tactic) · de List (strategy, tactic) · fr stratégie (strategy, tactic) · cs strategie (strategy, tactic) · fr tactique (strategy, tactic) · es truco (strategy, tactic) · cs taktika (strategy, tactic) · nl strategie (strategy, tactic) · pl chwyt (strategy, tactic) · ota حیله (strategy, tactic)