previous next
πλεῖστος , η, ον, Sup. of πολύς,
A.most, greatest, largest, in number, size, extent, etc., π. ὅμιλος, λαός, Il.15.616, 16.377, etc.; “π. κακόν” Od. 4.697; “πλεῖστοι ἐπιχθονίων ἀνθρώπων” Hes.Fr.33.1; “π. εὐκλείας γέρας” S.Ph.478; “φιλοσοφία παλαιοτάτη τε καὶ πλείστη” most in vogue, Pl. Prt.342a; “π. τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν φῦλον τὸ Ἀρκαδικόν” X.HG7.1.23, etc.; τῇ γνώμῃ πλεῖστός εἰμι, ἡ π. γνώμη, Hdt.7.220 (s.v.l.), 5.126; πλεῖστον σχήσειν, as Sup. of πλέον ἔχειν (v. πλείων), Th.7.36.
2. with Art., “οἱ π.” the greatest number, Id.4.90, etc.; τὸ π. τοῦ βίου the greatest part of . . , Pl.Lg.718a, etc. (also same gender as the foll. Noun, ὁ π. τοῦ βίου, ἡ π. τῆς στρατιᾶς, Th.1.5, 7.3); “τῇ ὄψει τοῦ θαρσεῖν τὸ π. εἰληφότες” Id.4.34; “τῷ πλούτῳ διδοὺς τὸ π.” E.Supp.408.
II. Special usages: with relat., ὅσας ἂν πλείστας δύνωνται καταστρέφεσθαι subdue the greatest number that they possibly could, Hdt.6.44; “ὡς ἂν δύνωνται πλεῖστα” IG12.98.4, cf. 109.10, 113.37; “ὁπόσσω κα πλείστω ἄξιος ᾖ” Berl.Sitzb.1927.160 (Cyrene); “ὅς κα πλεῖστον διδῷ ἀποδόμενοι” Leg.Gort.5.48; “ὡς π. χρόνον” Pl.Grg.481b; “ὅτι π.” Th.6.64, etc.: coupled with εἷς (q.v.), “εἷς ἀνὴρ π. πόνον ἐχθροῖς παρασχών” A.Pers.327: in comp. sense, “πλείστον ἄξια ἢ ὥς τις οἴεται” Hp.Art.57 (but πλεῖστα ἤ is corrupt in Hdt.2.35).
III. Adv. usages: “πλεῖστον” most, Il. 19.287, Hes.Th.231, etc.; “ὡς π.” X.An.2.2.12: sts. added to a Sup., “π. ἐχθίστη” S.Ph.631; “π. ἀνθρώπων . . κάκιστος” Id.OC743; “τὴν π. ἡδίστην θεῶν” E.Alc.790: πλεῖστα as Adv., Pi.P.9.97, S.OC720, etc.; “πολλάκις μὲν . . , π. δὲ . .” Pl.Hp.Ma.281b; π. χαίρειν, freq. in letters, POxy.742 (i B.C.), etc.
b. furthest, “π. ἀφεστηκέναι” Pl.R.587a, Arist. Mu.391a13.
2. with Art., τὸ π. at most, “ἡμερῶν τεσσάρων τὸ π.” Ar.V.260, etc.; “τὰ π.” for the most part, Pl.Criti.118c, etc.; opp. ἐνίοτε, Arist.HA563a31.—The form πλείστως is cited by Gal.17(1).855 from Hp.Epid.6.1.10 (πλεῖστα codd.).
IV. with Preps.:
1. διὰ πλείστου furthest off, in point of space or time, Th.4.115,6.11.
2. “ἐς πλεῖστον” most, S.OC739.
3. ἐπὶ πλεῖστον over the greatest distance, to the greatest extent, in point of space, time, or extent, “ἐπὶ π. χλιδῆς ἀπίκετο” Hdt.6.127; “ἐπὶ π. τοῦ γενησομένου” Th.1.138; “ἐκ τοῦ ἐπὶ π.” Id.1.2; ἐπὶ π. ἀνθρώπων ib.1; ὡς ἐπὶ π. or ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ π., for the most part, Id.4.14, Pl.Lg.720d.
4. κατὰ τὸ π. for the most part, Plb.11.4.7, etc.
5. περὶ πλείστου ποιεῖσθαι, v. περί A. IV.
6. ἐν τοῖς πλεῖσται, v. ὁ, ἡ, τό, A. v111. 6.
Henry George Liddell. Robert Scott. A Greek-English Lexicon. revised and augmented throughout by. Sir Henry Stuart Jones. with the assistance of. Roderick McKenzie. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1940.

The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.

hide Dictionary Entry Lookup
Use this tool to search for dictionary entries in all lexica.
Search for in
How to enter text in Greek:
hide References (42 total)
  • Cross-references in general dictionaries from this page (42):
    • Aeschylus, Persians, 327
    • Aristophanes, Wasps, 260
    • Euripides, Alcestis, 790
    • Euripides, Suppliants, 408
    • Herodotus, Histories, 2.35
    • Herodotus, Histories, 5.126
    • Herodotus, Histories, 6.44
    • Herodotus, Histories, 6.127
    • Herodotus, Histories, 7.220
    • Hesiod, Theogony, 231
    • Homer, Iliad, 19.287
    • Homer, Odyssey, 4.697
    • Plato, Laws, 718a
    • Plato, Laws, 720d
    • Plato, Republic, 587a
    • Plato, Gorgias, 481b
    • Plato, Protagoras, 342a
    • Plato, Critias, 118c
    • Plato, Greater Hippias, 281b
    • Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus, 720
    • Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus, 739
    • Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus, 743
    • Sophocles, Philoctetes, 631
    • Thucydides, Histories, 1.2
    • Thucydides, Histories, 4.115
    • Thucydides, Histories, 4.90
    • Thucydides, Histories, 7.3
    • Thucydides, Histories, 1
    • Thucydides, Histories, 1.5
    • Thucydides, Histories, 4.14
    • Thucydides, Histories, 6.64
    • Thucydides, Histories, 7.36
    • Xenophon, Anabasis, 2.2.12
    • Xenophon, Hellenica, 7.1.23
    • Homer, Iliad, 15.616
    • Homer, Iliad, 16.377
    • Sophocles, Philoctetes, 478
    • Polybius, Histories, 11.4.7
    • Thucydides, Histories, 4.34
    • Hippocrates, De articulis, 57
    • Thucydides, Histories, 1.138
    • Thucydides, Histories, 6.11
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: