Q Lately I’ve noticed that different broadcasters use different words for the past tense of “plead.” For example, one newscaster will say “the defendant pleaded guilty” but someone else will say “the defendant pled guilty.” Which is correct, “‘pleaded” or “pled”? – R.B., Miami, Fla.

A: Both “pleaded” and “pled” (sometimes spelled “plead”) are correct past tense forms of “plead.” They are also both used as the past participle of “plead.”

“Plead” belongs to the same class of verbs as “bleed,” “speed,” “read” and “feed.” As with those verbs, the past and past participle of “plead” are formed irregularly with a short vowel sound “e” replacing the long vowel sound “e” of the present tense “plead.” “Pled” parallels the past and past participles “bled,” “led,” “sped,” “read” and “fed.”

Competing with the short-vowel form “pled” from the beginning however, was the regular form “plead.” “Pleaded” eventually predominated in mainstream British English, while “pled” retreated into dialect and especially Scottish dialect use. Through Scottish immigration or some other means, “pled” reached America.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many American language commentators attacked “pled,” perhaps because it was not in good British use. “Pled” steadily gained respectability, however, and today “pled” and “pleaded” are equally acceptable in American English.

Q Since almost all definitions of the word “adage” define it as an old saying, why do people invariably preface “adage” with “old”? If “adage” means “old saying,” isn’t “old adage” redundant? – R.B., Lebanon, Pa.

A: Many language commentators agree with you that “old adage” is redundant. The use of “old” with “adage,” however, is not a recent phenomenon. “Old” has gone with “adage” since the word first came into English. The earliest recorded use of “adage,” in Edward Hall’s Chronicle from 1548, includes “old”: “He forgat the olde adage, saynge in tyme of peace provyde for warre.” In 1594, Thomas Nashe wrote “‘Much company, much knavery’ – as true as that old adage ‘Much courtesy, much subtlety.” Force of habit seems to keep “old” and “adage” linked.

There is also considerable evidence that people use “adage” for sayings that are not very old at all. This is a fairly recent shift in usage that dates to the early part of the 20th century. Consider, for example, the following tongue-in-cheek passage from a 1950 issue of Publishers Weekly: “Some people forget the lovely adage that people who live in glass houses should undress in the dark.” This shift is reflected in some dictionary definitions where “old saying” is reduced to “saying.” Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines “adage” as a “saying often in metaphorical form that embodies a common observation.”

Q I think your column is great and look forward to reading it. I have a question: where did “lounge lizard” come from? – M.L., Edinburgh, Texas

A: Since its first appearance as American slang in 1917, “lounge lizard” has surprisingly shown up in nearly every decade. A lounge lizard is typically depicted as a well-dressed man who frequents the establishments in which the rich gather with the intention of seducing a wealthy woman with his flattery and deceptive charm.

The term presumably owes something to the cold and insinuating quality of reptiles.

It has also been suggested that the name derives in part from the “lizards,” that is, shoes made from crocodile or snakeskin, that were sometimes sported by such men, but there is no solid evidence of this.

Eventually, the lounge lizard as social parasite decided to play chameleon and take on many appearances. “Lounge lizard” then became a generalized term applying to any frequenter of nightclubs. In the 1980s, it had a brief stint as a descriptor of a young person whose life revolved around the alternative, punk nightclub scene.

Q I came across the phrase “dogs of war” in a newspaper column not long ago, but am not sure what this means. Can you explain this expression and where it comes from?

A: Dogs have served as the inspiration for many proverbs and expressions familiar to all of us, like “dog eat dog” and “it’s a dog’s life.” The contrasting characteristics dogs can display, from loyalty to viciousness, result in a wide variety of figurative uses of “dog.”

Authors have written of “the dogs of law” and the “dogs of hell” in reference to the image of dogs as relentless and vicious hunters. The same is true of the more familiar expression “dogs of war,” which refers to the horrors of war, including slaughter, destruction and famine.

The expression is ultimately from the imagination of William Shakespeare, who used the powerful image in “The Tragedy of Julius Caesar.” The phrase is spoken by Mark Antony when he discovers that Caesar has been murdered by the conspirators. In his grief, Antony rages, “And Caesar’s spirit, ranging for revenge, With Ate by his side come hot from hell, Shall in these confines with a monarch’s voice Cry “Havoc,” and let slip the dogs of war…” (Ate is the Greek goddess of vengeance.)

Thus Antony imagines the violent consequences of Caesar’s assassination.

Q Can you tell me what the phrase “cook the books” means? I read it in a magazine article about white-collar crime.

A: “Cook the books” is a fairly old phrase meaning “to alter records so as to falsify them.” “Books” is a common word in business, referring to the ledgers in which financial information is recorded. This sense of “cook” dates back as far as the 17th century.

A somewhat later example dates from 1751, when Tobias Smollet, in his novel “Peregrine Pickle,” spoke of “some falsified printed accounts artfully cooked up, on purpose to mislead and deceive.”

With stories about insider trading and other forms of financial chicanery perennially appearing in the news, “cook the books” is a phrase that should be with us for a long time to come.

This column was prepared by the editors of Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition. Readers may send questions to Merriam-Webster’s Wordwatch, P.O. Box 281, 47 Federal St., Springfield, MA 01102.

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