Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PLEASE, v.t. [s as z. Fr. plaire, plaisant, from L. placere, placeo; Arm. pligea, pligeout; It. piacere; Sp. placer. Corn. plezia; formed perhaps on the root of like. Class Lg.]

1. To excite agreeable sensations or emotions in; to gratify; as, to please the taste; to please the mind. Their words pleased Hamor, and Shechem, Hamor's son. – Gen. xxiv. Leave such to trifle with more grace than ease, / Whom folly pleases, and whose follies please. – Pope.
2. To satisfy; to content. What next I bring shall please / Thy wish exactly to thy heart's desire. – Milton.
3. To prefer; to have satisfaction in; to like; to choose. Many of our most skillful painters were pleased to recommend this author to me. – Dryden. To be pleased in or with, to approve; to have complacency in. – Matth. iii. To please God, is to love his character and law and perform his will, so as to become the object of his approbation. They that are in the flesh can not please God. – Rom. viii.