Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PRAY, v.t.

1. To supplicate; to entreat; to urge. We pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. – 2 Cor. v.
2. In worship, to supplicate; to implore; to ask with reverence and humility. Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thy heart may be forgiven thee. – Acts viii.
3. To petition. The plaintif prays judgment of the court. He that will have the benefit of this act, must pray a prohibition before a sentence in the ecclesiastical court. – Ayliffe.
4. To ask or intreat in ceremony or form. Pray my colleague Antonius I may speak with him. – B. Jonson. [In most instances, this verb, is transitive only by ellipsis. To pray God, is used for to pray to God; to pray a prohibition, is to pray for a prohibition, &c.] To pray in aid, in law, is to call in for help one who has interest in the cause.