plebs

From Latin plēbs (“the plebeian class”), variant of earlier plēbēs. Later also understood as the plural of pleb.

• IPA^(key): /plɛbz/
• Rhymes: -ɛbz

plebs

1. plural of pleb

plebs pl (plural only)

1. (historical) The plebeian class of Ancient Rome.

   Synonym: plebeiate

   • c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iv], line 92:

     Why I am going with my pidgeons to the tribunall Plebs.

2. The common people, especially (derogatory) the mob.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:commonalty

   • a. 1657, George Daniel, "The Author" in Poems, Vol. II, p. 131:

     For 'tis an Easier Thing
     To make Trees Leape, and Stones selfe-burthens bring
     (As once Amphion to the walls of Thæbes,)
     Then Stop the giddie Clamouring of Plebs...

   • 1993, Max Cavalera, "Refuse/Resist", Sepultura, Chaos A.D.

     Chaos A.D. / Tanks On The Streets / Confronting Police / Bleeding The Plebs

   • 2000, James Fentress, chapter 1, in Rebels & Mafiosi: Death in a Sicilian Landscape:

     The history of Palermo was punctuated by such uprisings; when they happened, the great barons simply fled to the safety of their country villas, leaving the urban plebs free to sack their palaces in the city.

   • 2009, Erica Benner, chapter 8, in Machiavelli's Ethics:

     The lesser plebs are not unscrupulous troublemakers.

Although the Latin plebs was usually declined as a singular group noun, English plebs is usually treated as grammatically plural in all its senses.

• plebiscite
• tribune of the plebs

• plebeian, plebe, pleb

• “plebs, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, September 2006.

plebs m inan

1. plebs, commoners

• plebs in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
• plebs in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989

Borrowed from Latin plēbs.

• IPA^(key): /plɛps/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: plebs

plebs n (uncountable)

1. (derogatory) plebs, rabble, riffraff

   Synonyms: gepeupel, gespuis, grauw, tuig van de richel

2. (historical) plebs, commoners (non-aristocratic class in ancient Rome, esp. during the Roman Republic)

• plebejer
• plebejisch
• plebisciet

• plēbēs, plēbis (archaic)

From Old Latin plēbēs, from Proto-Italic *plēðwēs (whence Oscan 𐌐𐌋𐌝𐌚𐌓𐌉𐌊𐌔 (plífriks, “plebeian”, nom. sg.) via *plēðros), from Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁dʰwḗh₁s ~ *pl̥h₁dʰuh₁és (whence Ancient Greek πληθῡ́ς (plēthū́s, “crowd”)) from *pleh₁- (“fill”), whence pleō. See also populus.

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /pleːbs/, [pɫ̪eːps̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /plebs/, [plɛbs]

plēbs f (genitive plēbis); third declension

1. (countable and uncountable) plebeians, common people

Third-declension noun (i-stem or imparisyllabic non-i-stem).

The non-i-stem variant is found in Medieval Latin.

• plēbēcula/ plēbicula
• plēbēius
• plēbicola
• plēbiscītum
• plēbitās
• concilium plēbis
• tribūnus plēbis

• “plebs”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “plebs”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• plebs in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• plebs in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • one of the people: homo plebeius, de plebe
    
  • to get oneself admitted as a plebeian: traduci ad plebem (Att. 1. 18. 4)
    
  • to transfer oneself from the patrician to the plebeian order: transitio ad plebem (Brut. 16. 62)
    
  • to transfer oneself from the patrician to the plebeian order: traductio ad plebem
    
  • to stir up the lower classes: plebem concitare, sollicitare
    
  • to hold the people in one's power, in check: plebem continere
    
  • (ambiguous) the dregs of the people: faex populi, plebis, civitatis
    
  • (ambiguous) a demagogue, agitator: plebis dux, vulgi turbator, civis turbulentus, civis rerum novarum cupidus
    
  • (ambiguous) the plebeian tribunes, whose persons are inviolable: tribuni plebis sacrosancti (Liv. 3. 19. 10)
    
  • (ambiguous) to appeal to the plebeian tribunes against a praetor's decision: appellare tribunos plebis (in aliqua re a praetore) (Liv. 2. 55)
    
• “plebs”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1911) “plēbs”, in Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), page 494
• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “plēbs”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volumes 9: Placabilis–Pyxis, page 55

Learned borrowing from Latin plēbs.

• IPA^(key): /plɛps/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛps
• Syllabification: plebs

plebs m inan

1. (collective, derogatory) plebs (common people, hoi polloi, the mob)
2. (collective, historical, Ancient Rome) plebs (plebeian class of Ancient Rome)

• plebs in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• plebs in Polish dictionaries at PWN