Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PLA'GI-A-RY, n. [L. plagium, a kidnapping, probably from plagæ, nets, toil, that which is layed or spread, from the root of Eng. lay. The L. plaga, a stroke, is the same word differently applied, a laying on.]

1. A thief in literature; one that purloins another's writings and offers them to the public as his own. – South. Dryden.
2. The crime of literary theft. [Not used.] – Brown.