πλείων
Alt. πλείων, πλέων, ονος, ὁ, ἡ,
Etym. comp. of πολύς
I. "more, larger", both of number and size, Hom., etc.; τὸν πλείω λόγον all "further" speech, Soph.; πλείω τὸν πλοῦν the "greater part of..", Thuc.:—of Time, "longer", πλείων χρόνος Hdt.; πλέων νύξ "the greater part of" night, Il.
2. with the Art., οἱ πλέονες "the greater number", like οἱ πολλοί, "the mass or crowd", Hom.; οἱ πλεῦνες Hdt., etc.; c. gen., τὰς πλεῦνας τῶν γυκαικῶν id=Hdt.:— "the many, the people", opp. to the chief men, Thuc., etc.:— τὸ πλεῖον πολέμοιο "the greater part" of war, Hom.
II. pecul. usages of neut.:
1. as a Noun, "more", πλεῦν ἔτι τούτου Hdt.; τὸ δὲ πλέον nay, what is "more", Eur., Thuc.:— πλέον or τὸ πλέον τινός "a higher degree" of a thing, Soph.; τὸ πλ. τοῦ χρόνου Thuc.:— πλέον ἔχειν to have "the best" of it, win, conquer, id=Thuc.; also, like πλεονεκτέω, c. gen., Hdt., etc.; also, πλέον ποιεῖν Plat.; ἐς πλ. ποιεῖν Soph.; οὐδὲν πλ. πράσσειν, etc., Eur.:— τί πλέον; what "more", i. e. what "good or use" is it? Ar.; so, οὐδὲν ἦν πλέον Dem.:— ἐπὶ πλέον or ἐπίπλεον, as adv., "more, further", Hdt., Thuc., etc.; c. gen. "beyond", ἐπὶ τὸ πλ. τινὸς ἱκέσθαι Theocr.; cf. περί A. III.
2. as adv. "more, rather", πλέον ἔφερέ οἱ ἡ γνώμη his opinion inclined "rather", Hdt.:—also, τὸ πλέον, ionic τὸ πλεῦν, "for the most part", id=Hdt., etc.; τὸ πλ. ῀ μᾶλλον, Thuc.
b. with Numerals, τοξότας πλ. ἢ εἴκοσι Xen.:—in this sense a contr. form πλεῖν is used by attic writers, πλεῖν ἢ τριάκονθ᾽ ἡμέρας Ar.; πλεῖν ἢ χιλίας (sc. δραχμάς) id=Ar., etc.;—but ἤ is often omitted, as in Lat. quam after "plus", πλεῖν ἑξακοσίας id=Ar.; so, ἔτη γεγονὼς πλείω ἑβδομήκοντα "annos plus septuaginta natus", Plat.:—Comic phrase, πλεῖν ἢ μαίνομαι "more than to" madness, Ar.
c. the pl. πλείω is also used like πλέον, Thuc., Dem.