implore

To beg or plead for (something) earnestly or urgently; to beseech.

Noun

  1. An act of begging or pleading earnestly or urgently; an entreaty, an imploration or imploring, a plea.
    • Suddenly out of his delightfull dreame / The man avvoke, and vvould haue queſtiond more; / But he vvould not endure that vvofull theame / For to dilate at large, but vrged ſore / VVith percing vvordes, and pittifull...

Origin

PIE word *h₁én The verb is borrowed from Middle French implorer (modern French implorer (“to beg, plead, implore”)), or directly from its etymon Latin implōrāre, the present active infinitive of implōrō (“to beseech, entreat, implore; to appeal to, pray to”), from im- (a variant of in- (intensifying prefix)) + plōrō (“to cry out; to complain, deplore, lament”) (possibly from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₃(w)- (“to flow; to swim”)). The noun is derived from the verb.

Forms

implores

Verb

  1. To beg or plead for (something) earnestly or urgently; to beseech.
    • And giue me leaue, / And doe not ſay 'tis Superſtition, that / I kneele, and then implore her Bleſſing. - c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies,...
    • But again, the Publican by his Confeſſion ſhevveth a piece of the higheſt vviſdom that a mortal Man can ſhevv; becauſe by ſo doing, he engageth as vvell as imploreth the Grace and Mercy of God to ſave him. - 1685, John...
    • My daily bread is litt'rally implor'd, / I have no barns nor granaries to hoard; […] - 1687, [John Dryden], “The Third Part”, in The Hind and the Panther. A Poem, in Three Parts, 2nd edition, London: […] Jacob Tonson...
  2. To beg or plead that (someone) earnestly or urgently do something; to beseech, to entreat.
    • Acquaint her vvith the danger of my ſtate, / Implore her, in my voice, that ſhe make friends / To the ſtrict deputie: […] - c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William...
    • And novv they ſhip their oars, and crovvn vvith vvine / The holy Goblet to the povv'rs divine: / Imploring all the Gods that reign above, / But chief, the blue-ey'd Progeny of Jove. - 1725, Homer, “Book II”, in [William...
    • Talk not thus, I implore you, Evelyn: do not imagine me the worldly calculator that my enemies deem me. - 1838, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter X, in Alice or The Mysteries […], volume I, London: Saunders and Otley,...
  3. Often followed by for (a thing) or of (a person): to express an earnest or urgent plea.
    • That fortnight Rochester passed in intriguing and imploring. - 1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter VI, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume II, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and...
    • "Do not let me think of them too often, too much, too fondly," I implored; […] - 1853 January, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], “Auld Lang Syne”, in Villette. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […],...
    • She held up a warning finger as he lowered his mouth to the lips of the boy. 'But oh, why not?' implored he. 'Very well, then,' said she, relenting. 'But as gently as possible.' He kissed the child without waking him,...

Forms

implores imploring implored no-table-tags glossary implore implorest imploredst imploreth - emplore

Related

deplorable deplorably deploration deplore explore imploration implorator imploratory

Derived

implorable implorement implorer imploring unimplorable unimplored