Please vs. Pray

(transitive) To make happy or satisfy; to give pleasure to.

Example: ‘Her presentation pleased the executives.’; ‘I'm pleased to see you've been behaving yourself.’;

To desire; to will; to be pleased by.

Example: ‘Just do as you please.’;

Used to make a polite request.

Example: ‘Please, pass the bread.’; ‘Would you please sign this form?’; ‘Could you tell me the time, please?’; ‘May I take your order, please?’;

Used as an affirmative to an offer.

Example: ‘—May I help you? —Please.’;

An expression of annoyance or impatience.

Example: ‘Oh, please, do we have to hear that again?’;

(Cincinnati) Said as a request to repeat information.

To give pleasure to; to excite agreeable sensations or emotions in; to make glad; to gratify; to content; to satisfy.

Example: ‘I pray to God that it may plesen you.’; ‘What next I bring shall please thee, be assured.’;

To have or take pleasure in; hence, to choose; to wish; to desire; to will.

Example: ‘Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he.’; ‘A man doing as he wills, and doing as he pleases, are the same things in common speech.’;

To be the will or pleasure of; to seem good to; - used impersonally.

Example: ‘To-morrow, may it please you.’;

To afford or impart pleasure; to excite agreeable emotions.

Example: ‘What pleasing scemed, for her now pleases more.’; ‘For we that live to please, must please to live.’;

To have pleasure; to be willing, as a matter of affording pleasure or showing favor; to vouchsafe; to consent.

Example: ‘Heavenly stranger, please to tasteThese bounties.’; ‘That he would please 8give me my liberty.’;

give pleasure to or be pleasing to;

Example: ‘These colors please the senses’; ‘a pleasing sensation’;

be the will of or have the will (to);

Example: ‘he could do many things if he pleased’;

give satisfaction;

Example: ‘The waiters around her aim to please’;

used in polite request;

Example: ‘please pay attention’;

cause to feel happy and satisfied

Example: ‘it pleased him to be seen with someone in the news’; ‘he arranged a fishing trip to please his son’;

give satisfaction

Example: ‘she was quiet and eager to please’;

satisfy aesthetically

Example: ‘he was wearing a buttonhole that did not quite please the eye’;

take only one's own wishes into consideration in deciding how to act or proceed

Example: ‘this is the first time in ages that I can just please myself’;

wish or desire to do something

Example: ‘feel free to wander around as you please’;

it is someone's choice to do something

Example: ‘instead of attending the meeting, it pleased him to go off hunting’;

used in polite requests or questions

Example: ‘please address letters to the Editor’; ‘what type of fish is this, please?’;

used to add urgency and emotion to a request

Example: ‘please, please come home!’;

used to agree politely to a request

Example: ‘‘May I ring you at home?’ ‘Please do.’’;

used in polite or emphatic acceptance of an offer

Example: ‘‘Would you like a drink?’ ‘Yes, please.’’;

used to ask someone to stop doing something of which the speaker disapproves

Example: ‘Rita, please—people are looking’;

used to express incredulity or irritation

Example: ‘Oh please, is that meant to be a serious argument?’;

To petition or solicit help from a supernatural or higher being.

Example: ‘Muslims (or submitters) pray in the direction of Mecca.’;

To humbly beg a person for aid or their time.

(religion) To communicate with God for any reason.

(obsolete) To ask earnestly for; to seek to obtain by supplication; to entreat for.

Please; used to make a polite request.

Example: ‘pray silence for…’;

See Pry.

To make request with earnestness or zeal, as for something desired; to make entreaty or supplication; to offer prayer to a deity or divine being as a religious act; specifically, to address the Supreme Being with adoration, confession, supplication, and thanksgiving.

Example: ‘And to his goddess pitously he preyde.’; ‘When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.’; ‘I pray, sir. why am I beaten?’;

To address earnest request to; to supplicate; to entreat; to implore; to beseech.

Example: ‘And as this earl was preyed, so did he.’; ‘We pray you . . . by ye reconciled to God.’;

To ask earnestly for; to seek to obtain by supplication; to entreat for.

Example: ‘I know not how to pray your patience.’;

To effect or accomplish by praying; as, to pray a soul out of purgatory.

address God; say a prayer

call upon in supplication; entreat;

Example: ‘I beg you to stop!’;