entreat

English

Etymology

From Middle English entreten, from Anglo-Norman entretier, from Old French entraiter, from en- + traiter.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪnˈtɹiːt/, /ənˈtɹiːt/, /ɛnˈtɹiːt/
• Rhymes: -iːt

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Verb

entreat (third-person singular simple present entreats, present participle entreating, simple past and past participle entreated)

1. To treat with, or in respect to, a thing desired; hence, to ask for earnestly.
   • c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     If you be she, I doe intreat your patience.

   • 1845 February, — Quarles [pseudonym; Edgar Allan Poe], “The Raven”, in The American Review‎, volume I, number II, New York, N.Y., London: Wiley & Putnam, , →OCLC:

     some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door

2. To beseech or supplicate (a person); to prevail upon by prayer or solicitation; to try to persuade.
   • c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Second Part of Henrie the Fourth, , quarto edition, London: V S for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley, published 1600, →OCLC, [Act EPILOGUE, (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)]:

     If my tongue cannot intreate you to acquit mee, will you commaund me to vſe my legges?

   • 1789, John Rogers, The Nature and Influence of the Fear of God (sermon)

     It were a fruitless attempt to appease a power whom no prayers could entreat.

   • 1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter XVIII, in Jane Eyre. An Autobiography. , volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Smith, Elder, and Co., , →OCLC:

     “But I cannot persuade her to go away, my lady,” said the footman; “nor can any of the servants. Mrs. Fairfax is with her just now, entreating her to be gone; but she has taken a chair in the chimney-comer, and says nothing shall stir her from it till she gets leave to come in here.”

   • 1937, Frank Churchill and Leigh Harline, “One Song”, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Walt Disney:

     One heart / Tenderly beating / Ever entreating / Constant and true

3. (obsolete) To invite; to entertain.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. , London: [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 53:

     pleasures to entreat

4. (obsolete) To treat or discourse; hence, to enter into negotiations, as for a treaty.
   • 1627, G[eorge] H[akewill], An Apologie of the Power and Prouidence of God in the Gouernment of the World. , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Iohn Lichfield and William Turner, , →OCLC:

     of which I shall have further occasion to intreate

   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, 1 Maccabees 10:47:

     Alexander […] was first that entreated of true peace with them.

5. (obsolete, intransitive) To make an earnest petition or request.
6. (obsolete, transitive) To treat, or conduct toward; to deal with; to use.
   • 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The life and death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     Fairly let her be entreated.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Jeremiah 15:11:

     I will cause the enemy to entreat thee well.

Translations

Noun

entreat (plural entreats)

1. An entreaty.
   • 1661, Samuel Pordage, Mundorum Explicatio:

     Let my entreats of Love prevail so far, / When for your happinesse they spoken are: […]

   • 2006, Khaled Abou El Fadl, The Search for Beauty in Islam: A Conference of the Books‎, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 236:

     In the Muslim world, the most compelling and decisive books are those full of confessions written on the flesh of victims, and the most earnest prayers are the entreats for mercy screamed in pain and anguish at the tormentors and flesh and thought.

Anagrams

• Arnette, Ternate, ratteen, ternate