Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Please
Please
,Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Pleased
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Pleasing
.] 1.
To give pleasure to; to excite agreeable sensations or emotions in; to make glad; to gratify; to content; to satisfy.
I pray to God that it may
plesen
you. Chaucer.
What next I bring shall
please
thee, be assured. Milton.
2.
To have or take pleasure in; hence, to choose; to wish; to desire; to will.
Whatsoever the Lord
pleased
, that did he. Ps. cxxxv. 6.
A man doing as he wills, and doing as he
pleases
, are the same things in common speech. J. Edwards.
3.
To be the will or pleasure of; to seem good to; β used impersonally.
βIt pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell.β Col. i. 19.
To-morrow, may it
please
you. Shakespeare
To be pleased in
or To be pleased with
to have complacency in; to take pleasure in.
β To be pleased to do a thing
, to take pleasure in doing it; to have the will to do it; to think proper to do it.
Dryden.
Please
,Verb.
I.
1.
To afford or impart pleasure; to excite agreeable emotions.
What
pleasing
scemed, for her now pleases
more. Milton.
For we that live to
please
, must please
to live. Johnson.
2.
To have pleasure; to be willing, as a matter of affording pleasure or showing favor; to vouchsafe; to consent.
Heavenly stranger,
These bounties.
please
to tasteThese bounties.
Milton.
That he would
please
8give me my liberty. Swift.
Webster 1828 Edition
Please
PLEASE
,Verb.
T.
1.
To excite agreeable sensations or emotions in; to gratify; as, to please the taste; to please the mind. Their words pleased Hamor, and Shechem, Hamor's son. Gen.34.
Leave such to trifle with more grace than ease,
Whom folly pleases, and whose follies please.
2.
To satisfy; to content. What next I bring shall please
Thy wish exactly to thy heart's desire.
3.
To prefer; to have satisfaction in; to like; to choose. Many of our most skilful painters were pleased or recommend this author to me.
To be pleased in or with, to approve; to have complacency in. Matt.3.
To please God, is to love his character and law and perform his will, so as to become the object of his approbation.
They that are in the flesh cannot please God. Rom.8.
PLEASE
,Verb.
I.
Spirits, freed from mortal laws, with ease
Assume what sexes and what shapes they please.
1.
To condescend; to comply; to be pleased; a word of ceremony. Please you, lords,
In sight of both our battles we may meet.
The first words that I learnt were, to express my desire that he would please to give me my liberty.
Please expresses less gratification than delight.