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Plain   /pleɪn/   Listen
adjective
Plain  adj.  (compar. plainer; superl. plainest)  
1.
Without elevations or depressions; flat; level; smooth; even. See Plane. "The crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain."
2.
Open; clear; unencumbered; equal; fair. "Our troops beat an army in plain fight."
3.
Not intricate or difficult; evident; manifest; obvious; clear; unmistakable. "'T is a plain case."
4.
(a)
Void of extraneous beauty or ornament; without conspicious embellishment; not rich; simple.
(b)
Not highly cultivated; unsophisticated; free from show or pretension; simple; natural; homely; common. "Plain yet pious Christians." "The plain people."
(c)
Free from affectation or disguise; candid; sincere; artless; honest; frank. "An honest mind, and plain."
(d)
Not luxurious; not highly seasoned; simple; as, plain food.
(e)
Without beauty; not handsome; homely; as, a plain woman.
(f)
Not variegated, dyed, or figured; as, plain muslin.
(g)
Not much varied by modulations; as, a plain tune.
Plain battle, open battle; pitched battle. (Obs.)
Plain chant (Mus.) Same as Plain song, below.
Plain chart (Naut.), a chart laid down on Mercator's projection.
Plain dealer.
(a)
One who practices plain dealing.
(b)
A simpleton. (Obs.)
Plain dealing. See under Dealing.
Plain molding (Join.), molding of which the surfaces are plain figures.
Plain sewing, sewing of seams by simple and common stitches, in distinct from fancy work, embroidery, etc.; distinguished also from designing and fitting garments.
Plain song.
(a)
The Gregorian chant, or canto fermo; the prescribed melody of the Roman Catholic service, sung in unison, in tones of equal length, and rarely extending beyond the compass of an octave.
(b)
A simple melody.
Plain speaking, plainness or bluntness of speech.
Synonyms: Level; flat; smooth; open; artless; unaffected; undisguised; frank; sincere; honest; candid; ingenuous; unembellished; downright; blunt; clear; simple; distinct; manifest; obvious; apparent. See Manifest.


noun
Plain  n.  
1.
Level land; usually, an open field or a broad stretch of land with an even surface, or a surface little varied by inequalities; as, the plain of Jordan; the American plains, or prairies. "Descending fro the mountain into playn." "Him the Ammonite Worshiped in Rabba and her watery plain."
2.
A field of battle. (Obs.) "Lead forth my soldiers to the plain."


adverb
Plain  adv.  In a plain manner; plainly. "To speak short and pleyn." "To tell you plain."


verb
Plain  v. t.  To lament; to mourn over; as, to plain a loss. (Archaic & Poetic)


Plain  v. t.  (past & past part. plained; pres. part. plaining)  
1.
To plane or level; to make plain or even on the surface. (R.) "We would rake Europe rather, plain the East."
2.
To make plain or manifest; to explain. "What's dumb in show, I'll plain in speech."


Plain  v. i.  To lament; to bewail; to complain. (Archaic & Poetic) "We with piteous heart unto you pleyne."





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Plain" Quotes from Famous Books



... Will's fancy was bounded by the hazy rim where plain and sky converge, and when the first day's journey was done, and he had staked out and cared for his horse, he watched with fascinated eyes the strange and striking picture limned against the black hills and the sweeping stretch of darkening prairie. Everything was animation; the bullwhackers ...
— Last of the Great Scouts - The Life Story of William F. Cody ["Buffalo Bill"] • Helen Cody Wetmore
... many a weary sail Has seen, above the illimitable plain, 385 Morning on night and night on morning rise, Whilst still no land to greet the wanderer spread Its shadowy mountains on the sunbright sea, Where the loud roarings of the tempest-waves So long have mingled with the gusty wind 390 In melancholy loneliness, and swept The desert of those ...
— The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley Volume I • Percy Bysshe Shelley
... all is plain. In those slow, ignorant ages when the spark of life was supposed to be transmitted by the male, he naturally was taken to typify the life force. As this force was most imperious in youth, so youth was taken to represent it. And as, even in the eyes of the supposed chief actor, his feelings ...
— The Forerunner, Volume 1 (1909-1910) • Charlotte Perkins Gilman
... rooms are plain and ceiled above in natural wood, and on shelves arranged along the sides are boxes containing years of correspondence and documents, dating back to 1797—just one century. In the room beyond, three stenographers do ...
— The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony (Volume 2 of 2) • Ida Husted Harper
... that my husband perceived it, and wondered what ailed me, strove to divert me, but it was all to no purpose. He pressed me to tell him what it was troubled me, but I put it off, till at last, importuning me continually, I was forced to form a story, which yet had a plain truth to lay it upon too. I told him I was troubled because I found we must shift our quarters and alter our scheme of settling, for that I found I should be known if I stayed in that part of the country; for that my mother being dead, ...
— The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders &c. • Daniel Defoe


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