pla

name

1. (abbreviation, alt-of, initialism)Initialism of Port of London Authority.
2. (abbreviation, alt-of, initialism)Initialism of People's Liberation Army.

   “Thus, despite the downfall of the conservative military leadership of Wuhan as a consequence of the center’s suppression of the Wuhan Mutiny, subsequent developments indicate an increased reliance on the institution least desirous of continued Cultural Revolution disruption—the PLA.”

   “Suao is a strategic port designed to keep Taiwan’s access to maritime supply chains open in times of war, so Koh said it would also be priority targets of the PLA missiles.”

   “While the PLA has achieved significant technological milestones in recent years, it has also been dogged by a corruption scandal in its ranks. A number of senior officials have been purged, raising questions about how ready the PLA is to fight a war from a leadership perspective.”

3. Initialism of People's Liberation Army.
4. (abbreviation, alt-of, clipping)Initialism of People's Liberation Army.
5. (abbreviation, alt-of, historical, initialism)Initialism of Palestine Liberation Army (“a traditional army of the Palestine Liberation Organization, defunct”).
6. (historical)NYSE stock-ticker symbol for Playboy Enterprises, Inc., now PLBY.
7. (abbreviation, alt-of, initialism, slang)Initialism of Pokémon Legends: Arceus.
8. A surname.

noun

1. (abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism)Initialism of programmable logic array.
2. (abbreviation, alt-of, initialism)Initialism of polylactic acid.

   “2016. Wang Y, Qu W, Choi SH. "FDA;s Regulatory Science Program for Generic PLA/PLGA-Based Drug Products", American Pharmaceutical Review, 19(4):14. There are currently 15 FDA-approved PLA/PLGA-based drug products available on the US market (Table 1).”

3. (abbreviation, alt-of, initialism)Initialism of power lever angle (“angle of the pilot's primary control lever”).
4. (abbreviation, alt-of, initialism)Initialism of principle of least astonishment.