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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
plu·ral    Audio Help   [ploor-uhl] Pronunciation Key
–adjective
1.consisting of, containing, or pertaining to more than one.
2.pertaining to or involving a plurality of persons or things.
3.being one of such a plurality.
4.Grammar. noting or pertaining to a member of the category of number, found in many languages, indicating that a word has more than one referent, as in English men, or more than two referents, as in Old English ge, meaning “you.”
–noun Grammar.
5.the plural number.
6.a form in the plural.

[Origin: 1350–1400; ME < L plūrālis, equiv. to plūr-, s. of plūs plus + -alis -al1]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
plural

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
plu·ral    Audio Help   (plŏŏr'əl)  Pronunciation Key 
adj.  
  1. Relating to or composed of more than one member, set, or kind: the plural meanings of a text; a plural society.
  2. Grammar Of or being a grammatical form that designates more than one of the things specified.

n.   Grammar
  1. The plural number or form.
  2. A word or term in the plural form.


[Middle English plurel, from Old French, from Latin plūrālis, from plūs, plūr-, more; see pelə-1 in Indo-European roots.]

plu'ral·ly adv.
Our Living Language  : In English, plurals of nouns are normally indicated by the ending -s or -es, or in a few cases by -en, as in children and oxen. Some vernacular varieties of English do not use plural endings in measurement phrases such as three mile and ten pound. This zero plural has a long history and was not formerly as socially stigmatized as it is today. It appears in literary works dating from the Middle English period to the present day, including works of dialect writers, such as this example from Mark Twain's Huck Finn: "The nearest white settlement warnt nearer nor four mile." · In adjectival constructions even Standard English has no -s plural: a five-pound box of candy is acceptable, whereas a five-pounds box is not. These adjective phrases derive from an -a suffix in Old English that marked plural adjectives. This ending has long since fallen away, leaving behind the unmarked root forms. · The absence of -s in the plural form of animal names (hunting for bear, a herd of buffalo) probably arose by analogy with animals like deer and sheep whose plurals have been unmarked since the earliest beginnings of the English language. A few dialects of English have unmarked plurals that may extend beyond the class of measure nouns. For example, some speakers of African American Vernacular English occasionally use such constructions as I have three sister. See Notes at comparative, foot, redundancy.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
plural 
1377, from O.Fr. plurel "more than one" (12c.), from L. pluralis "of or belonging to more than one," from plus (gen. pluris) "more" (see plus).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
plural

adjective
1. composed of more than one member, set, or kind [ant: singular
2. grammatical number category referring to two or more items or units [ant: singular

noun
1. the form of a word that is used to denote more than one [ant: singular

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
plural [ˈpluərəl] noun, adjective
(in) the form of a word which expresses more than one
Example: `Mice' is the plural of `mouse'; a plural noun/verb; Is the verb in the singular or the plural?
Arabic: صيغَة الجَمْع
Chinese (Simplified): 复数形式[的]
Chinese (Traditional): 復數形式[的]
Czech: množné číslo; množný
Danish: flertal; flertalsform
Dutch: meervoud
Estonian: mitmus
Finnish: monikko
French: pluriel
German: der Plural; Plural-…
Greek: πληθυντικός (γραμμ.)
Hungarian: többes (szám)
Icelandic: fleirtala
Indonesian: jamak
Italian: plurale
Japanese: 複数(の)
Korean: 복수(의)
Latvian: daudzskaitlis
Lithuanian: daugiskaita
Norwegian: flertall(sform), pluralis; flertalls-
Polish: liczba mnoga, w liczbie mnogiej
Portuguese (Brazil): plural
Portuguese (Portugal): plural
Romanian: plural
Russian: множественное число
Slovak: množné číslo
Slovenian: množina
Spanish: plural
Swedish: plural
Turkish: çoğul
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary, © 2000-2006 K Dictionaries Ltd.
American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
plural

The grammatical category in nouns, pronouns, and verbs that refers to more than one thing. Most nouns become plural with the addition of -s or -es: hats, chairs, dishes, countries, and so on. Some nouns form the plural in other ways, as in children, feet, geese, and women. (Compare singular; see agreement.)


[Chapter:] Conventions of Written English


The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Plural

Non"plus\, n. [L. non not + plus more, further. See Plural.] A state or condition which daffles reason or confounds judgment; insuperable difficalty; inability to proceed or decide; puzzle; quandary.

Both of them are a perfect nonplus and baffle to all human understanding. --South.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Plural

Plu"ral\, a. [L. pluralis, from plus, pluris, more; cf. F. pluriel, OF. plurel. See Plus.] Relating to, or containing, more than one; designating two or more; as, a plural word.

Plural faith, which is too much by one. --Shak.

Plural number (Gram.), the number which designates more than one. See Number, n., 8.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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