plagiary

English

Alternative forms

• plagiarie [16th–17th c.]

Etymology

From Latin plagiārius (“kidnapper, plagiarist”), from plagium (“kidnapping”), probably from plaga (“a net, snare, trap”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpleɪdʒ(ɪ)əɹi/

Noun

plagiary (countable and uncountable, plural plagiaries)

1. The crime of literary theft; plagiarism.
   • 1649, J[ohn] Milton, ΕΙΚΟΝΟΚΛΆΣΤΗΣ [Eikonoklástēs] […], London: […] Matthew Simmons, […], →OCLC:

     accounted Plagiary

   • 1650, Thomas Browne, “Of Adherence unto Antiquity”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC, 1st book, page 16:

     Plagiarie had not its nativity with printing; but began in times when thefts were difficult, and the paucity of books ſcarce wanted that invention.

2. (archaic) A plagiarist.
   • 1695, John Dryden, “Preface of the Translator, with a Parallel, of Poetry and Painting”, in C[harles] A[lphonse] du Fresnoy, De Arte Graphica. The Art of Painting, […], London: […] J[ohn] Heptinstall for W. Rogers, […], →OCLC, page xxxiv:

     Without Invention a Painter is but a Copier, and a Poet but a Plagiary of others.

3. (obsolete) A kidnapper.

Derived terms

• plagiarism
• plagiarist

Adjective

plagiary (not comparable)

1. (archaic) plagiarizing
   • 1863, The Home and Foreign Review, number 5, page 87:

     The busy bee is his classical device, and the simile confesses and justifies his plundering propensities; but the plagiary poet who steals ideas is represented by another insect, […]

Further reading

• “plagiary”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “plagiary”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.