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# pray

«pray» in Mova's early modern english dictionary: **please; ask; speak to God** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### kind

archaic sense

### modern equivalent

please; ask; speak to God

### part of speech

verb

### meaning for a pupil

In old texts "pray" means "please" or "I beg you"; the Torah also uses it for speaking to God. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/emode/P/pray/#m1)

### how it differs from today

Today "pray" means speak to God or ask for help; the sense "please" is old, and the sentences use it that way.

### examples

- I pray you give her unto him to wife. (Torah GEN.34.8, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/emode/P/pray/#x1)
- "Take it pray, as a present!" (Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore) [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/emode/P/pray/#x2)
- And he said: 'Show me, I pray Thee, Thy glory.' (Torah EXO.33.18, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/emode/P/pray/#x3)

### primary record

pray

### tests

rate: sense (≥3 uses in the Torah, ≥10× EWT there, Wiktionary: an archaic sense); corpora 406 (Torah 69, tales 337, Sefer Yetzirah 0); EWT 3; ratio 6.6 (Torah alone 23.0); Wiktionary archaic (a sense)

### In the corpora

- [And he said: 'I pray you, my brethren, do not so wickedly.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/GEN.485/)
- [and said: 'Whose daughter art thou? tell me, I pray thee.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/GEN.643/)
- [And I said unto her: Let me drink, I pray thee.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/GEN.667/)
- [Arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me.'](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/GEN.793/)
- [Then Rachel said to Leah: 'Give me, I pray thee, of thy son's mandrakes.'](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/GEN.901/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «pray» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/emode/P/pray/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.