entreat

Definition

Senses relating to asking or pleading.

Etymology

The verb is derived from Late Middle English entreten (“to deal with (someone) in a specified way; to concern oneself with (something); to deal with or give an account of (a topic); to engage in negotiation; to intercede for (someone); to plead with (someone)”), from Anglo-Norman entraiter, entretier (“to concern oneself with (something); to deal with (someone) in a specified manner; to have a conversation with (someone); to negotiate (with someone, or about something)”), Middle French entraiter, entraictier, and Old French entraictier (“to have a conversation with (someone); to concern oneself with (something)”), from en- (prefix meaning ‘in, into’) + traiter (“to be concerned with (something); to treat (someone) in a specified way”) (from Latin tractāre, the present active infinitive of tractō (“to handle, manage; to drag, haul”), from trahō (“to drag, pull; etc.”) (see that entry for the further etymology) + -tō (frequentative suffix)). The noun is derived from Late Middle English entrete (“agreement; negotiation; treatment of a subject in discourse”), from the verb.

Example Sentences

• "If you be ſhe, I doe intreat your patience / To heare me ſpeake the meſſage I am ſent on."
• "My Lord vve muſt entreate the time alone."
• "Our tyred lymbes, bruſ'd in the morning fight, / Intreat ſoft reſt, and gentle huſht repoſe."