Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PLAINT'IF, or PLAINT'IFF, n. [Fr. plaintif, mournful, making complaint.]

In law, the person who commences a suit before a tribunal, for the recovery of a claim; opposed to defendant. [Prior uses this word as an adjective, in the French sense, for plaintive, but the use is not authorized. The second f is as improperly added to this word, as it would be to brief or relief.]