placetint.n.
/ˈpleɪsɛt/, /ˈpleɪsᵻt/, U.S. /ˈpleɪsᵻt/ A. int.
Used, originally in a university or Church assembly, as a formula to express a vote in favour of a proposition: ‘It pleases (me or us)’.The word is part of the form used in the old Universities when a question is put to the vote: ‘Placetne vobis, domini doctores? placetne vobis, magistri?’ (Does it please you, Doctors? does it please you, Masters?); the answer being ‘Placet’, or ‘Non placet’. The declaration of the vote after a count is in the form, ‘Majori parti placet’, or ‘non placet’, as the case may be. It is also in the power of the Vice-Chancellor, or of the Proctors conjointly, to veto any proposal by their ‘Non placet’, as in quot. 1893.
ΚΠ
1572 in J. Lamb Coll. Lett. Corpus Christi Coll., Cambr. (1838) 382 Otherwyse the proctors and scrutators maye say placet and non placet at their pleasure, whatsoever all the residue shall privately saye in their eares.
a1593 C. Marlowe Massacre at Paris (c1600) sig. C5 Whilste I cry placet like a Senator.
1620 N. Brent tr. P. Sarpi Hist. Councel of Trent ii. 131 Whereunto all answered, first the Legates, then the Bishops, and other Fathers by the word Placet.
1764 Ann. Reg., Chron. 58 [Cambridge] There appeared among the black-hoods..placet, 103... Among the white hoods the proctors accounts differed.
1893 H. P. Liddon et al. Life E. B. Pusey I. xvi. 378 Amidst a tremendous shout of ‘Placet’ from the area the decisive formula was uttered, ‘Nobis procuratoribus non placet’ [Us, the proctors, it pleases not], and the question of the statute was for the time at an end.
1935 D. L. Sayers Gaudy Night xxiii. 482 She searched for the word that should carry her over the last difficult breach. It was he who found it for her... ‘Placetne, magistra?’ ‘Placet’.
1979 Associated Press Newswire (Nexis) 15 Mar. Since Foster began his work in the office of the Vatican secretary of state in 1969, three popes..have signed Foster's work with ‘Placet’.
1997 J. Oetgen Amer. Abbot (rev. ed.) 309 In this balloting the one voting could say ‘placet’, ‘non placet’, or ‘placet juxta modum’ (with qualification).
B. n.
1. An expression of assent or approval; (formerly) spec. the sanction of a temporal or secular power for the publication and execution of an ecclesiastical ordinance. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > statement > assent > [noun] > specific
placet1589
the mind > language > statement > assent > [noun] > word or expression of assent
yeac1390
yes1533
placet1589
amen1609
yeaword1810
the mind > language > statement > assent > [noun] > word or expression of assent > used in the old universities
placet1589
1589 T. Nashe To Students in R. Greene Menaphon Epist. sig. ** Whose placet he accounts the plaudite of his paines.
1593 T. Danett tr. L. Guicciardini Descr. Low Countreys 21 b The pope cannot giue a benefice, nor a pardon, nor send a bull into the countrey without the Princes Placet.
1605 F. Bacon Of Aduancem. Learning ii. sig. Fff2 That secondarie reason..which is grounded vpon the placets of God. View more context for this quotation
1645 J. Howell Epistolæ Ho-elianæ ii. xv. 25 Neither are his Bulls of any strength without the Princes placet.
1650 T. Vaughan Anima Magica 5 The Scripture it self is oftentimes wrested, and forc'd by his Disciples to vote a Placet to his Conclusions.
1778 W. Abernethy-Drummond Lawfulness of breaking Faith with Heretics 34 The moment the deputies of the nations pronounced their Placet or consent, Huss was directly hurried to the flames.
1871 Contemp. Rev. 19 136 Neither the royal Placet,..nor the right to convene synods, could be availingly employed.
1937 F. Borkenau Spanish Cockpit i. 42 He had simply been commander of the Barcelona garrison, and for his coup d'état had got the placet of the other generals.
1973 Times Lit. Suppl. 1 June 618/4 He was consecrated in 1583 [as Bishop of Kythera] but the Venetians refused him their placet.
1994 30 Days in Church & in World No. 4. 10/2 This was the reason for Ratzinger's resistance and his demand for a drastic revision of the text if it was to have his placet.
2. A vote of assent in a council, or in the congregation or convocation of a university; (in plural) people who cast such a vote.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > statement > assent > [noun] > vote of assent
placet1788
1788 J. Beverley Acct. Ceremonies Univ. Cambr. 12 If the Number of non placets exceeds the placets, or are equal to them, the Grace is thrown out.
1883 Manch. Examiner 1 Dec. 4/7 The report..was rejected by 40 non-placets to 39 placets.
1905 Daily News 6 Mar. 6 ‘Why should the University be ruled from the country parishes?’..was asked again by the ‘placet’ party.
1992 Guardian (Nexis) 18 May 3 Among the 540 Cambridge dons who voted, the placets (it pleases me) outvoted the non placets by 336 to 204.
2003 Econ. Press Rev. (Nexis) 8 Oct. With 226 placet votes needed, the draft bill was passed with 286 votes for it.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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int.n.1572