please

present singular third person pleases · participle present pleasing · participle past pleased · past pleased · first person past singular pleased · archaic first person past singular pleas'd · archaic present second person singular pleasest · past second person singular pleased · archaic past second person singular pleasedst · archaic past second person singular pleas'd · present singular third person pleases · archaic present singular third person pleaseth · past singular third person pleased · archaic past singular third person pleas'd · past plural pleased · archaic past plural pleas'd

1. ambitransitiveTo make happy or satisfy; to give pleasure to.

   Her presentation pleased the executives.

   5 more examples

   I'm pleased to see you've been behaving yourself.

   Our new range of organic foods is sure to please.

   And so it had always pleased M. Stutz to expect great things from the dark young man whom he had first seen in his early twenties ; and his expectations had waxed rather than waned on hearing the faint bruit of the love of Ivor and Virginia—for Virginia, M. Stutz thought, would bring fineness to a point in a man like Ivor Marlay, […].

   1922, Michael Arlen, “Ep./1/1”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days

   World tour, media whore / "Please the Press in Belgium!" / This was your life

   1987, “Paint a Vulgar Picture”, in Morrissey (lyrics), Johnny Marr (music), Strangeways, Here We Come, performed by The Smiths

   How can an operator be, at the same time, top for overall satisfaction and bottom for value for money? I turned to Anthony Smith for the answer, leaning on his 20 years running Transport Focus and its predecessors. It's commuters, he explained. "You can't please commuters, you can only not displease them."

   2024 October 2, Philip Haigh, “Different types of passengers require different types of fare”, in RAIL, number 1019, page 54

   Synonyms: cheer, hearten, satisfy, beatify, enrapture, begladden, blissen, bright · Antonyms: annoy, disgust, displease, irritate, aggravate, annoy, nettle, rankle

2. ergativeintransitiveTo desire; to will; to be pleased by.

   Just do as you please.

   4 more examples

   He doesn't think, he just says whatever he pleases.

   Whatsoeuer the Lord pleased, that did he in heauen and in earth: in the Seas, and all deepe places.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 135:6

   “Will any gentleman please to get outside and make room for a lady?”

   1870 July 16, “Our Idler’s Gossip”, in Bell’s Life in Sydney and Sporting Chronicle, volume XXVII, number 708, new series, [Sydney, N.S.W.], page [3], column 2

   "I don't say it and I don't think it," responded Sancho. "It's their affair and let them eat it with their bread; whether or not they were lovers, they've already made their accounting with God; I tend to my vines, it's their business, not mine; I don't stick my nose in; if you buy and lie, your purse wants to know why. Besides, naked I was born, and naked I'll die: I don't lose or gain a thing; whatever they were, it's all the same to me. And many folks think there's bacon when there's not even a hook to hang it on. But who can put doors on a field? Let them say what they please, I don't care.

   Part 1 published in 1605, Part 2 in 1615, translated in 2003, Miguel de Cervantes and translated by Edith Grossman, Don Quixote, pages 191-192

   Synonyms: desire, will

alternative puh-lease

1. not comparableUsed to make a polite request.

   Please, pass the bread.

   5 more examples

   Would you please sign this form?

   Could you tell me the time, please?

   May I take your order, please?

   Q: Should I call him to confirm? A: Please do.

   LIST OF LETTERS remaining in the Post-Office at New Orleans, September 19, 1857. Persons calling will please mention that they are advertised.

   1857 September 20, “List of Letters”, in Sunday Times, volume I, number 140, New Orleans, La.: Times Printing Association, →OCLC, page 566, column 2

alternative puh-lease

1. oftenUsed as an affirmative to an offer.

   Near-synonym: thank you

   2 more examples

   May I help you? —(Yes,) please.

   D'you mind if I open the window? —Please do.

   Synonyms: thank you

2. An expression of annoyance, impatience, or exasperation.

   Oh, please, do we have to hear that again?

   2 more examples

   So it's safe to let a 10-year-old use a gun? Please.

   So now I have to go back there a third time? Please!

3. An expression of annoyance, impatience, or exasperation.

   Please with that damn harmonica!

   2 more examples

   Near-synonyms: enough, enough already, that's enough, no more, cut it out, knock it off, shut up, STFU

   Please with all the ads, I just want to watch the movie.

   Synonyms: enough, enough already, that's enough, no more, cut it out, knock it off, shut up, STFU

1. CincinnatiSaid as a request to repeat information.

   Customer while ordering: Can I get a [unintelligible]? Restaurant employee: Please?

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   Fellow: May I have a few days off to get married? Reply, in the Cincinnati idiom by a boss who had heard the sound but not the sense: Boss: Please?

   August 1973, “Bitte or Bitter?”, in Cincinnati, page 109

   Even though I heard it was supposed to be German-Catholic background, there’s only one thing German — they say ‘please’ [for the more common ‘pardon me’], which comes from bitte.

   September 1978, Virginia Watson-Rouslin, “A Foreign View”, in Cincinnati, page 110

   […] He explained in broken English that one of his daughters was ill and he probably could not be there. I did not understand all that he said, so asked, ‘Please?’ per Cincinnati custom. ‘There is no need to plead. I will be there if she is feeling better,’ he replied.

   September 1979, “Winners: Contest No. 13—The Laugh’s On Us”, in Cincinnati, volume 12, number 12, page 15

   Cincinnati are some of the most polite persons I have ever met in the US. When asking someone a question, instead of saying “Excuse me,” or “Pardon,” they say “Please?”

   5 May 1998, Jose I. Sarasua, “Come to Cincinnati... Please?”, in Cost Engineering, volume 40, number 5, page 9

   By the same token, one contestant who doesn’t hear a particular question could say “Pardon me?” while another could say “Please?” Again, neither would be lying if he said he was from Ohio.

   April 2001, Jeff Robinson, “Say what?”, in Ohio Magazine, archived from the original on 02 Apr 2019, page 77

   Synonyms: pardon, pardon me, beg pardon, excuse me, say again, come again, what's that, what