please Meaning, Definition & Usage

verb give pleasure to or be pleasing to
delight.
- These colors please the senses
- a pleasing sensation
verb be the will of or have the will (to)
- he could do many things if he pleased
verb give satisfaction
- The waiters around her aim to please
adverb used in polite request
- please pay attention

OE. plesen, OF. plaisir, fr. L. placere, akin to placare to reconcile. Cf. Complacent, Placable, Placid, Plea, Plead, Pleasure.

imperfect & past participle Pleased; present participle & verbal noun Pleasing

To give pleasure to; to excite agreeable sensations or emotions in; to make glad; to gratify; to content; to satisfy.
I pray to God that it may plesen you. Chaucer.

What next I bring shall please thee, be assured. Milton.
To have or take pleasure in; hence, to choose; to wish; to desire; to will.
Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he. Ps. cxxxv. 6.

A man doing as he wills, and doing as he pleases, are the same things in common speech. J. Edwards.
To be the will or pleasure of; to seem good to; -- used impersonally. "It pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell." Col. i. 19.
To-morrow, may it please you. Shak.
Dryden.

To afford or impart pleasure; to excite agreeable emotions.
What pleasing scemed, for her now pleases more. Milton.

For we that live to please, must please to live. Johnson.
To have pleasure; to be willing, as a matter of affording pleasure or showing favor; to vouchsafe; to consent.
Heavenly stranger, please to taste These bounties. Milton.

That he would please 8give me my liberty. Swift.