Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PLEAD'INGS, n.

In law, the mutual altercations between the plaintif and defendant, or written statements of the parties in support of their claims, comprehending the declaration, count or narration of the plaintif, the plea of the defendant in reply, the replication of the plaintif to the defendant's plea, the defendant's rejoinder, the plaintif's sur-rejoinder, the defendant's rebutter, the plaintif's sur-rebutter, &c. till the question is brought to issue, that is, to rest on a single point.