Pray, v. t.
1. To address earnest request to; to supplicate; to entreat; to implore; to beseech.
And as this earl was preyed, so did he. --Chaucer.
We pray you . . . by ye reconciled to God. --2 Cor. v. 20.
2. To ask earnestly for; to seek to obtain by supplication; to entreat for.
I know not how to pray your patience. --Shak.
3. To effect or accomplish by praying; as, to pray a soul out of purgatory.
To pray in aid. Law (a) To call in as a helper one who has an interest in the cause. --Bacon. (b) A phrase often used to signify claiming the benefit of an argument. See under Aid.
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Aid, n.
1. Help; succor; assistance; relief.
An unconstitutional mode of obtaining aid. --Hallam.
2. The person or thing that promotes or helps in something done; a helper; an assistant.
It is not good that man should be alone; let us make unto him an aid like unto himself. --Tobit viii. 6.
3. Eng. Hist. A subsidy granted to the king by Parliament; also, an exchequer loan.
4. Feudal Law A pecuniary tribute paid by a vassal to his lord on special occasions.
5. An aid-de-camp, so called by abbreviation; as, a general's aid.
Aid prayer Law, a proceeding by which a defendant beseeches and claims assistance from some one who has a further or more permanent interest in the matter in suit.
To pray in aid, to beseech and claim such assistance.
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