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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



... little raised above the others, because he had slipped a rolled-up overcoat under him, pretending that it was to get it out of the way, you understand. Always very sensitive about his shortness, W. Keyse. And she saw his face, as plain as you please, and with a look in the pale, eager eyes, that for once was for Emigration Jane, her very own self, and not for That There Other One. She knew in that moment of revelation that she had always been jealous. Oh, ...
— The Dop Doctor • Clotilde Inez Mary Graves
... please who did not enjoy herself. The motor drive was one of the loveliest in Italy. They passed through glorious scenery, all the more beautiful as it was the blossoming time of the year and flowers were everywhere. On a marshy plain, as they reached Paestum, the fields were spangled with the little white wild narcissus, growing in such tempting quantities that Miss Morley asked the driver to stop the char-a-banc, and allowed all to dismount and pick ...
— The Jolliest School of All • Angela Brazil
... man," he said. "As the executive of the P. K. & R, system it wouldn't be exactly official and proper in me to approve your judgment in that matter of the Italians; but as a man—plain man, now, you understand,—I know grit when I see it and—" he dropped his bluff stiffness got out of his chair and came along and squeezed Parker's muscular arm, "you've got a brand of it that I admire. Yes, I do. No mistake! But that is just between you and me. That ...
— The Rainy Day Railroad War • Holman Day
... put up a monument to his parents, a plain slab in Paleham church, inscribed with ...
— The Way of All Flesh • Samuel Butler
... feminine portion of it. He usually represents American life, in which that portion is often spoken of as showing to peculiar advantage. But Mr. Reinhart sees it generally, as very bourgeois. His good ladies are apt to be rather thick and short, rather huddled and plain. I shouldn't mind it so much if they didn't look so much alive. They are incontestably possible. The long, brilliant series of drawings he made to accompany Mr. Charles Dudley Warner's papers on the American watering-places form a rich bourgeois epic, which imaginations haunted by a type must ...
— Picture and Text - 1893 • Henry James


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