| 释义 |
▪ I. game, n.|geɪm|
Forms: α. 1–5 gamen, 1 gǫmen, 3–5 gamin, -yn, ? 5 gamon, (4, 6 pl. gamnes), 4–5 gammen, -in, -yn, ? 5 gammon, 3–5 gomen, (4 pl. gomnes), 4 Kent. gemen; β. 3–6 gamme, 4–5 (9 dial.) gam, 3–4 gome, 4 Kent. geme, 6 Sc. gemm, 3– game.
[Com. Teut.: OE. gamen, gǫmen str. neut. = OFris. game, gome, OS., OHG. gaman (MHG. gamen) joy, glee, ON. gaman (Sw. gamman, Da. gammen) game, sport, merriment; regarded by most Germanists as etymologically identical with Goth. gaman neut., participation, communion, f. ga- prefix, together, ‘com-’ (see y- prefix) + root of man. If this explanation be correct, the OTeut. accentuation (as in a few other nouns formed with ga-) has been preserved because the word had already in the prehistoric period ceased to be apprehended as a compound.]
I.
1. Amusement, delight, fun, mirth, sport. Often in game and glee, game and play, joy and game; also game and solace. upon her game: in fun. no game = ‘no fun’. Obs. exc. dial.
Beowulf 1160 Gamen eft astah, beorhtode benc-sweᵹ. a1000Boeth. Metr. ix. 17 He het him to gamene ᵹeara forbærnan Romana buriᵹ. a1200Moral Ode 288 Nis it bute gamen and gleo al þat man mai here dreoᵹen. c1250Hymn Virg. 21 in Trin. Coll. Hom. 258 Þer nis nouþer gome ne gleo auȝ þer is pine wiðute fin. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 370 To honti and to winne is mete & to abbe solas & game. a1300Cursor M. 12554 (Cott.) Quen þis meigne was gadird samen Þam wanted ai þeir gasteli gamen Til þat iesus was cummen in place. c1320Sir Tristr. 1918 A loghe þai founden made, Was ful of gamen and play. c1340Cursor M. 3445 (Fairf.) Rebecca..now..bredis twa for ane of twynlynges þat hir þuȝt na gam [other texts gamen]. 13..Guy Warw. (A.) 3116 Þan answerd þe riche soudan Þat hadde no gamen of than. 1375Barbour Bruce iii. 465 [Bruce] maid thaim gamyn and solace. c1386Chaucer Sir Thopas 129 His murie men comanded he To make hym bothe game and glee. c1400Sowdone Bab. 3199 So thay livede in ioye and game. c1425Seven Sag. (P.) 1454 My wyf hase put in the pyne In the dore oppon hyre game. c1430Pilgr. Lyf Manhode ii. cli. (1862) 136 If j ete it, grace dieu wolde holde it no game [F. nen seroit pas contente]. c1440York Myst. xxxi. 164 We schall haue goode game with þis boy. c1450St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 1188 Com þe batemen with gamen and gle. c1485Digby Myst. (1882) v. 605 To be false, men reportith it game. 1523Fitzherb. Husb. §153 It is conuenient for euery man..to haue playe and game accordynge to his degre. 1549–62Sternhold & H. Ps. xxxiii. 21 Our soule in God hath ioy and game. 1560Rolland Crt. Venus iv. 400 All game and gle fra me euer adew. 1580Sidney Ps. xl. vi, A, ha! this is good game. 1588Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 360 We haue had pastimes heere, and pleasant game. 1879Waugh Chimney Corner 41 It's rare gam, too [snowballing]—as lung as a body doesn't get hit theirsel'.
2.
†a. Jest, as opposed to earnest. Also (with a), a joke or jest. Obs. exc. as in b.
c1250Gen. & Ex. 3498 Tac ðu nogt in idel min name, Ne swer it les to fele in gamen. a1340Hampole Psalter v. 6 Til perfite men it fallis not to leghe, nouþer in ernest ne in gamen. c1386Chaucer Clerk's T. 677 But nathelees, for ernest ne for game He of his crueel purpos nolde stente. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VII. 111 A preost Edmond..seide in game, ‘Why chese ȝe nouȝt me myself’. 1390Gower Conf. I. 19 But yet betwene ernest and game Ful oft it torneth other wise. 1447O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 261 Here aftyr neythir in ernyst nere game No mortal husbonde to me do name. 1590Spenser F.Q. i. xii. 8 They..crowned her twixt earnest and twixt game. 1590Shakes. Mids. N. i. i. 240 As waggish boyes in game themselues forsweare. 1626in Crt. & Times Chas. I (1848) I. 173 What think you? for I know not. Is it a game or a verity?
b. Phr. to make († a) game of (also † on): to make fun of, jest at, turn into ridicule. to make game (to be): to pretend for fun (rare).
c1460Ros Belle Dame sans Mercy 226 Whanne I speke aftir my beste avise Ye sett it nought, but make ther-of a game. a1541Wyatt Poems, To my Lute 23 Vengeance shall fall on thy disdaine, That makest but game on earnest paine. 1580Sidney Ps. xxxix. v, That fooles of me maie make their game. 1671Milton Samson 1329 Do they not seek occasion of new quarrels, On my refusal, to distress me more, Or make a game of my calamities? 1745Hist. Coldstream Guards 25 Oct. (Farmer), If the militia are reviewed to-morrow by his Majesty, the soldiers of the third regiment of Guards are to behave civilly and not to laugh or to make any game of them. a1810Mrs. Trimmer Two Farmers (1829) 26 Mrs. Mills..made great game of her and her husband. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. vi. (1858) II. 72 She had all the talents which qualified her..to make game of his scruples. 1870Dickens E. Drood iii, Some of the girls made game to be their brothers. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 220 They fancied that Ctesippus was making game of them.
†c. An object of ridicule, laughing-stock. Also laughing game. Obs.
1562Jewel Apol. Ch. Eng. i. 9 [They] did count them no better then..the of-scourings and laughing games of the whole worlde. 1591Spenser Tears Muses 204 Those sweete wits..Are now despizd, and made a laughing game. 1694Southerne Fatal Marr. 11, Am I then the sport, The Game of Fortune, and her laughing Fools?
3. a. An amusement, diversion, pastime. † Also collect., play, diversion. † at game: at play.
a1225Ancr. R. 318 Ich..biheold hit, & oðe wrastlinge & oðer fol gomenes. a1300Cursor M. 25501 Ken us lauerd..of vr sinnes son to rise..and leue vr gamens grill. 13..Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 1319 Þe lorde of þe londe is lent on his gamnez. a1340Hampole Psalter xvi. 12 As foles þat gedirs til a somere gamen. 1362Langl. P. Pl. A. xi. 37 Lecherie and losengrie..beoth gamus nou a dayes. c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 246 A wilde pleiere of someres gamenes. c1450St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 1047 He suld noght childres gammys su. 1549Compl. Scotl. 13 To pas til hunting and til other gammis, conuenient for ther nobilitie. 1567Satir. Poems Reform. iii. 40 Not hir fyrst spous..In portratour and game mycht be his peir. 1577–87Holinshed Chron. II. 53/2 Refusing an excellent clearke, because he saw him somewhat lightlie demeaning himselfe at game. 1660Jer. Taylor Duct. Dubit. iv. i. ii. §30 Johannes Sarisburiensis allows of every game;..if it can ease our griefs. 1685Baxter Paraphr. N.T. Matt. xi. 16–17 The unbelievers of this generation, do as children in their games, complain of one another..you are cross to us whatever game we play. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 12 The discourse of the three old men is described by themselves as an old man's game of play. 1884J. Sully Outl. Psychol. xii. (1886) 548 In their games children are actors, architects, and poets, and sometimes musical composers as well.
b. spec. Amorous sport or play, now esp. signifying sexual intercourse.
c1230Hali Meid. 31 Alle hise fulitoheschipes, and hise unhende gamenes..ha schal..þolien ham alle. c1275Lutel Soth Sermun 78 in O.E. Misc. 190 He mai quiten hire ale and soþen do þat gome. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 604 So longe hii dude such sacrefise & pleide such game. Þat hii adde an doȝter averne was hire name. c1400Destr. Troy 1506 Thretty sonnes besydes, als other wemen, þat he [Priam] gate on his gamen. 1522World & Child in Hazl. Dodsley I. 244, I am a child..Gotten in game and in great sin. 1606Shakes. Tr. & Cr. iv. v. 63 Set them downe For sluttish spoyles of opportunitie; and daughters of the game. 1938G. Greene Brighton Rock vi. ii. 259 What mattered was the game. The two main characters made their stately progress towards the bed sheets. 1964Mademoiselle Sept. 164 There's a new dance, the Ska—like The Game set to music.
c. colloq. An amusing incident; a piece of fun; a ‘lark’.
1838Dickens O. Twist xvi, ‘I can't bear it; it is such a jolly game..Oh, my eye, what a game!’ 1857Hughes Tom Brown ii. iii, ‘Oh, here's a game’, whispered the rest of us, and we all cut upstairs after the Doctor. Ibid., We had such a game with him one day last half.
4. a. A diversion of the nature of a contest, played according to rules, and displaying in the result the superiority either in skill, strength, or good fortune of the winner or winners. For round, square game, see round, square. † at game: at play.
a1300Cursor M. 28338 Til idel gammes, chess and tablis. 1340Ayenb. 45 Kueade gemenes ase byeþ þe gemenes of des and of tables. a1400–50Alexander 2272 What gome sall þis gamen begyn vpon first? 1515Nottingham Rec. III. 344 Caredys and odar gammys for money. 1530Privy Purse Exp. Hen. VIII (1827) 17 Item..paide..to Domyngo for soo moche money As his grace loste to him at game, iiij C li. 1530in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford 86 [They] do mayntayne..unlawfull gamys of the tenys. 1715tr. C'tess D'Aunoy's Wks. 208 There was a numerous Assembly of Persons of Distinction, several Tables where they were at Game. 1716Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to C'tess Mar 14 Sept., I could not play at a game I had never seen before. 1815Encycl. Brit. III. 487 Beast, among gamesters, a game at cards. 1863Geo. Eliot Romola ii. iii, A game in which there was an agreeable mingling of skill and chance.
b. Gr. and Rom. Antiq. Usually pl. (= L. ludi): Athletic, dramatic, and musical contests; gladiatorial and other shows.
c1400Destr. Troy 1620 In þat Cite..Mony gaumes [?read gamnes] were begonnen þe grete for to solas. 1567Drant Horace's Ep. i. xiv, A farmer, thou the townish games doste burne for. 1579–80North Plutarch (1676) 765 Many Games of price were played at Athens. 1593Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, ii. iii. 53 Promise them such rewards As Victors weare at the Olympian Games. 1601Holland Pliny I. 189 Lycaon hath the report of setting out the firste publicke games.. in Arcadia. 1602Shakes. Jul. C. i. ii. 178 The Games are done, And Cæsar is returning. 1662Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. i. vi. §3 After the institution of the Olympick game [sic, here and elsewhere] by Pelops. 1734tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. vii. x. (1827) III. 346 Musical games were always exhibited in the theatre. 1833Philol. Mus. II. 74 One Cleomedes of Astypalæa killed a man at the Olympic games, boxing with him. 1880L. Wallace Ben-Hur vii. 35 Herod, more Greek than Jew..with all a Roman's love of games and bloody spectacles.
c. the game: the proper method of playing; correct play. lit. and fig. (See also play v. 16 b.)
1854G. J. Whyte-Melville Gen. Bounce I. ix. 198 If honesty's the game, you've a right to your share, what Mrs. Kettering intended you should have. 1889G. Drage Cyril I. vii. 60, I really think he is..not playing the game. a1898Mod. That's not the game.
d. pl. In Scotland, a number of contests in athletics, piping, and dancing held esp. in various Highland centres; a meeting for the purpose of holding such contests; freq. in Highland games.
1822Inverness Jrnl. 4 Oct., One of the spectators of the Highland games, yesterday, was plundered of a gold watch. 1831Aberdeen Jrnl. 31 Aug., The Games were contested with a spirit which would have pleased our friend the Ettrick Shepherd himself. 1905Westm. Gaz. 15 Oct. 7/2 The competitors have..piped their way up to the games ground. 1948A. Raeburn This is Scotland 54 There are balls and Highland Games, where tossing the caber, throwing the hammer, Highland dancing and other professional spectacles are arranged.
e. pl. Athletics or sports as organized in a school, college, etc. Freq. attrib. (see sense 16 c).
1895Kipling Day's Work (1898) 343 He blossomed into full glory as head of the school, ex-officio captain of the games. 1899― Stalky 66 King and Macrea, fellow house-masters, had borne it in upon him that by games, and games alone, was salvation wrought. 1934Ld. Berners First Childhood xi. 105 At my preparatory school, it [sc. Latin grammar] ceased to be a game (as did also games themselves). 1960J. Betjeman Summoned by Bells vii. 67 Greatest dread of all, the dread of games!
f. The Game: a form of charades.
1940S. Lewis Bethel Merriday xiv. 119 That monstrous form of charades called ‘The Game’. 1960S. Foot Emergency Exit vii. 51 They played ‘The Game’ after dinner. 1962E. Roosevelt Autobiogr. xxx. 230 We played The Game—a form of charades. Queen Elizabeth..chose the words that the rest of us were called upon to act out.
5. fig.
a. A proceeding, scheme, intrigue, undertaking, followed up like a game. So often, to play a losing, a waiting game. † to make a saving game of it: to retrieve one's losses in the end. Colloq. phr. two can play at that game: others can act in a similar way (usu. said as a threat of retaliation for unfair dealing).
c1250Gen. & Ex. 1214 Ysmael pleide hard gamen. c1300Seyn Julian 184 Heo ne schal me wraþþi þus nammore: Ichulle pleie anoþer game. 13..Poem in Vernon MS. 407 b (Anglia VII. 292) Charite I rede þat we beginne As bifore alle oþer games. 1430–40Lydg. Bochas i. i. (1544) 2 b, Unto Adam this was an uncouth game To be constrained from rich apparayle In barraine earth to seken his vitayle. a1500Chester Pl. (E.E.T.S.) vi. 260 In mydds the world by any waie this gamon shall begin. Ibid. xii. 4 A gammon I will assay. 1614Raleigh Hist. World iii. viii. §6. 98 The grauitie..vsually found in the Lacedæmonians hindred them from playing their game handsomely against so nimble a wit. 1650R. Stapylton Strada's Low C. Warres vii. 63 Alva..resolved to play his game warily. 1654H. L'Estrange Chas. I (1655) 53 The Commons.. thought themselves worsted, should he now at last make a saving game of it. 1670Cotton Espernon iii. ix. 470 Perhaps in his life he never had so hard a Game to play. 1719De Foe Crusoe ii. v, The savages would go..thither to play the old game over again. 1795Windham Sp. 27 May (1812) I. 279 He was playing a deep game. 1795–1814Wordsw. Excurs. iii. 285 An intellectual game pursued With curious subtilty. 1821J. W. Croker in Diary 7 June (1884), Lord L. was playing a game, and..not quite a fair one. 1826Disraeli Viv. Grey v. xiii, Now, gentlemen, I have another game to play. 1826Scott Woodst. II. iii. 79 I'll show you that two can play at the game of wrestling. 1838Prescott Ferd. & Is. (1846) II. xviii. 161 While this game of diplomacy was going on. 1842Knickerbocker Apr. 355 I'll show him that two can play at that game. 1844Thirlwall Greece VIII. lxii. 188 He was negotiating with the Achæans, and playing a double game. 1851Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 245 The game got stale, or Peter became honest. 1889Jessopp Coming of Friars ii. 108 He had a very difficult game to play during the eleven years he was Bishop. 1894Wolseley Marlborough II. xlix. 44 James..could not play a losing game. Ibid. xci. 434 No man ever knew better how to play a waiting game. 1911Beerbohm Zuleika D. xv. 230 The Socratic manner is not a game at which two can play. 1955G. Greene Quiet American i. iv. 60 They must have been caught in a cross-fire, trying to get back, and I suppose every man of us along the bank was thinking, ‘Two can play at that game.’
b. A person's policy or plan of action; esp. in such jocular phrases as that's your little game! the same old game! Also, the course best suited to one's interests.
a1698Temple Wks. (1757) II. 226 Which seems to be the present game of that crown. 1728Vanbr. & Cib. Prov. Husb. ii. i, And now pray let's see your Game. 1808Sir J. Moore Let. to Castlereagh 28 Dec. in J. Moore Narr. Campaign (1809) 301 In the present state of things, it [a battle] is more Buonaparte's game than mine. 1840E. E. Napier Scenes & Sports For. Lands I. i. 16 My game was now quite the reverse from what it had been at starting. 1857Reade Course True Love 21 Mrs. Trimmer's game was not to see her. 1870R. B. Brough Marston Lynch xvii. 164 Your game is to identify yourselves with the imperial families. 1885Ruskin Pleas. Eng. 108 These three thousand men..[design to] overthrow the Greek empire! That was their little game!—a Christmas mumming to purpose. 1887Sims Mary Jane's Mem. 300 Missus saw what her game was. 1893W. T. Wawn S. Sea Islanders 94 They determined to spoil my little game.
c. to play the game of: to act so as to secure the advantage or interest of.
1657Baxter Min. agst. Malign. §7. 4 It is apparent that these enemies of the Ministers, are playing the Papists game. 1808Sir J. Moore Let. to Marq. Romana 23 Dec. in J. Moore Narr. Campaign (1809) 164 It is playing the Enemy's game to draw him to attack our armies in rotation. 1847Grote Greece ii. l. (1862) IV. 385 A selfish oligarchical party, playing the game of a foreign enemy. 1893Leeds Mercury 11 May 4/8 The English Radicals did not see why they should play the Unionist game by voting for Mr. Russell's amendment.
d. pl. ‘Dodges’, tricks.
1660Trial Regic. 49 His Hand is in at all Games. a1845Hood Tale Trumpet xxviii, The lower orders are up to such games. 1894Fenn In Alpine Valley I. 55 If you are going to carry on these games, let's..shake hands and separate. 1897Daily News 24 Apr. 2/1 But none of your games with Mary Roxbury. She knows her rights.
e. the game: thieving, housebreaking; freq. in phr. on the game. Thieves' slang.
1739W. Udall in Ordinary of Newgate's Account ii. 14/1, I, and others went out again upon the Old Game, till I was taken up for Clacking the Doctor. 1811Lex. Balatron. sig. G2, Game, any mode of robbing. 1839H. Brandon Poverty, Mendicity & Crime Gloss., On the game, thieving. 1905Daily Chron. 14 Apr. 6/6 Paolillo pressed me to go out ‘on the game’.
f. the game: prostitution; usu. in phr. on the game. (Cf. quot. 1606 for sense 3 b above.) slang.
1898Daily News 21 July 8/6 The prosecutrix pestered her to ‘go on the game’, i.e. the streets. 1911F. Harris Women of Shakespeare 194 The phrase of the prostitute to-day on the streets of London is: ‘I'm on the game.’ 1958[see brass n. 2 g]. 1963T. & P. Morris Pentonville viii. 191 This is almost certainly an underestimate of the number who are either married to prostitutes or have women ‘on the game’ as an additional source of income. 1969T. Parker Twisting Lane 201 Betty's on the game, isn't she? Has she got you at it too?
6. a. A definite portion of play in any ‘game’ (sense 4), terminated by the victory of one side, or the recognition that no victory can be gained; ‘a match at play’ (J.).
In mod. use the exact meaning of the term is often determined somewhat arbitrarily by the rules of the particular ‘game’ concerned. In card-playing, a ‘game’ ends when every player has played all his cards, though usually the contest is not considered as ended until a definite number of ‘games’ (in Whist, a ‘rubber’) have been played. In some sports a ‘game’ ends after a prescribed number of acts have been performed, or a prescribed number of partial victories gained.
a1250Owl & Night. 1666 Riȝt swa me gred þe manne a schame þat taveleth and forleost þat game. 1532Privy Purse Exp. Hen. VIII (1827) 186 Item..paied to Rogers for xv games the whiche the kinges grace loste to him at tenes at xls. a game, xxx li. 1611Shakes. Wint. T. i. ii. 248 A Foole, That seest a Game play'd home, the rich Stake drawne, And tak'st it all for ieast. 1838Dickens Nich. Nick. i, Thus two people who cannot afford to play cards for money, sometimes sit down to a quiet game for love. 1862Pardon Whist 20 A Rubber is two games won out of three. 1875W. S. Hayward Love agst. World 78, I will play you three games for {pstlg}500 each. 1890J. M. Heathcote Tennis (Badm.) vi. 105 The scoring of the game was as follows: 6 games to 3, 6 games to 5, 5 games to 6, 6 games to 5.
fig.1826Disraeli Viv. Grey iv. vi, At your age life cannot be the lost game you think it. 1895United Service Mag. July 429 He [Arabi] gave up the game and began..to withdraw his reserves.
b. Phrases (often used fig.). the game is up, is over = is lost. to force the game (see force v.1 3 c and 5). † to play the whole game (see quot. 1732). † out of one's game: not playing. to have the game out: to play it to the end. game and game: one game scored to each side. game, set, and match, a complete and decisive victory (from the use in Lawn Tennis).
1711Shaftesbury Charact. (1737) III. iv. ii. 218 If they lay resty and out of their Game, chamber'd and idle. 1732Berkeley Alciphr. ii. §3 In our Dialect..a Sharper is one that plays the whole game. 1808Sir J. Moore Let. to Ld. Castlereagh 26 Nov. in J. Moore Narr. Campaign (1809) 267 Unless I plainly see that the game is up, and resistance on the part of Spain vain. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair lv, The Game, in her opinion, was over in that little establishment. 1867Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) I. vi. 500 Godwine might well think the game was up. 1872[Earl Pembroke & G. H. Kingsley] S. Sea Bubbles ix. 235 ‘You may say your prayers now’, replied I, with a ghastly grin, ‘for the game's up with us’. 1873Dixon Two Queens I. i. vi. 44 She was..the only human being who could force his game. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) II. 274 He is very eager that Callicles and Socrates should have the game out. 1888J. Payn Myst. Mirbridge (Tauchn.) I. xv. 175 All lawn-tennis..is over for to-day..just as we were game-and-game, too. 1968Listener 15 Aug. 210/2 This seemed to be game, set and match to the garage. 1969Sunday Express 6 Apr. 4 It was game, set, and match to the passenger.
c. with qualifying adj. (to play) a good, a poor, etc. game: to be a skilful player (or the contrary). † a great, small, high, or low game: indicating the magnitude of the stakes played for.
1523Fitzherb. Husb. §153 A pore man..wyll playe as great game..as gentylmen were wont to do. 1641Vicars Jehovah-Jireh (1644) 179 The Divill, who..is willing to play at small games, rather than sit out and bee idle. 1674Hickman Quinquart. Hist. (ed. 2) 191 In all the third Part, our Historian is put to horrible shifts, and plays a very low game indeed. 1708Brit. Apollo I. Supernum. No. 4. 1/2 'Tis somewhat like the High Game at Putt. 1885Harper's Mag. Mar. 628/1, I play a wretched game.
d. Position or advantage in play.
1677Dryden To Mr. Lee 6 Mutual Vouchers for our Fame we stand, And play the Game into each other's hand. 1774Burke Corr. (1844) I. 505 We may play into the adversary's hand the advantageous game which we have obtained. 1917J. du Mont tr. Lasker's Chess Strategy iv. 24 The mobility of the White Queen..begins to have a threatening effect on Black's game. 1952E. Lasker Chess Secrets 271 Had I kept my Bishop back at QB1, and castled instead, this advance would have given me a satisfactory game.
e. The course or event of a game. Also fig.
1827Hallam Const. Hist. (1876) II. xii. 409 France..held the game in her hands. 1878C. D. Yonge 3 Cent. Mod. Hist. xxiv. 570 Napoleon has himself said that in war the game is with him who commits the fewest faults. 1888F. Hume Mad. Midas i. ii, You'll have the game in your own hands.
f. A person's performance in a particular game; the normal standard of one's play; to be on (or off) one's game, to be playing well (or badly); to be in (or out of) form. Cf. quot. 1885 under sense 6 c above.
1851J. Pycroft Cricket Field ii. 30 What can surpass a hardly-contested match when you have been manfully playing an up-hill game. 1873J. Blackwood Let. 7 June in Geo. Eliot's Lett. (1955) V. 421, I..backed Tommy when most folk thought he was off his game! 1887F. Gale Game of Cricket 59 We had played..together, and knew each other's game. 1891H. G. Hutchinson Hints on Golf 16 What am I doing wrong, Tom? I'm quite off my game. Ibid 52 If you are one of the many golfers who overrate their game. 1904S. A. Mussabini Mannock's Billiards i. 23 It is wonderful how strength of nerve improves with the strength of one's game. 1920Westm. Gaz. 16 Oct. 2/2 Their disregard of the recognized rules was accentuated by the fact that neither man was on his game.
†7. The winning position, the victory in a contest, the mastery (in early use the best game). Also, the prize contended for. Obs.
(For expressions like to win, lose the game, from which this sense may have originated, see 6.)
c1380Wyclif Sel. Wks. II. 258 Two men..rennen a space for a priis, and he þat comeþ first to his ende shal have þe gamen þat is sett, wheþer it be spere..or oþir þing þat is putt. c1510Lytell Geste Robin Hode v, That all the best archers shold come..And that shoteth all ther best The game shall bere a way. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 62 b, But all that can loue God moost..feruently, be moost..lyke in this course to gete the best game (as saynt Paule sayth). 1548Hall Chron., Hen. VI, 167 Kyng Henry..and Richard duke of Yorke..wresteled for the game, and strove for the wager. 1549Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par. Phil. 8 Let vs make spedye haste..to atteine the game [= L. bravium] of immortalitie. 1572R. H. tr. Lauaterus' Ghostes To Rdr. (1596) A ij b, This Authour may..be..adiudged to the best game. 1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie i. xviii. (Arb.) 53 The shepheards..sang and played on their pipes for wagers, striuing who should get the best game. 1621Bp. Andrewes Serm. Fasting v. (1856) I. 392 To win but a prize, at a running or a wrestling..and all is but for a poor silver game.
8. In various applications.
a. A ‘set’ of players.
†b. A hand at cards.
c. pl. In trade use: The apparatus for playing particular games.
d. The number of points required for winning.
e. The state of the game.
f. In certain card games: The possession, at the end of a game, of the largest number of pips, for which the player scores one or more points.
g. within, out of (one's) game: within, out of one's range of play (in Croquet, etc.).
a.1741Richardson Pamela (1824) I. xxiii. 35 Why can't they make their game without me?
b.1746Hoyle Whist (ed. 6) 22 Your Game consists of King, Queen [etc.].
c.1895Strand Mag. June 607 How Games are Made.
d.1830‘Eidrah Trebor’ Hoyle made familiar 6 Ten is game. Ibid. 8, Points are gained by honours and tricks, and ten constitute the game.
e. Mod. The game is four all, love three, etc.
f.1830‘Eidrah Trebor’ Hoyle made familiar 63 All Four..Four chances..for each of which a point is scored, namely, High..Low..Jack..Game, the majority of pips, collected from the tricks taken by the respective players.
g.1874J. D. Heath Croquet Player 52 Unless your partner lie at the boundary, far out of the adversary's game.
h. Chess. (i) A method of play, esp. a series of initial moves; cf. close game (close a. and adv. A. 2 c), open game.
1750, etc. [see close a. and adv. A. 2 c]. 1845Souvenir Bristol Chess Club 59 This move produces the opening known by the name of ‘The two Knights' game’. 1894J. Mason Princ. Chess iv. 188 The Scotch Game may or may not be a Gambit. 1952E. Lasker Chess Secrets 414 To steer into his favorite game, the Vienna variation of the King's Gambit. 1968Bott & Morrison More Chess for Children 158 (heading) Four knights' game.
(ii) A sequence of moves forming a recognized stage in the play, esp. in end-game (end n. 25), middle game.
1884, etc. [see end n. 25]. 1894, etc. [see middle a. 6]. 1949H. Golombek World Chess Championship 1948 219 He was quite outplayed in the early middle game. 1952E. Lasker Chess Secrets 273 The clearest understanding of opening and endgame strategy was not sufficient..unless it was matched by masterly middle game tactics.
†9. Sport derived from the chase. dog of game: one used in hunting or sporting. to be in game: to be engaged in the chase. Obs.
1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 8649 He..nolde no leng abide Þat he nolde to is game..He wende him vorþ an honteþ. c1330R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 94 Þe Kyng herd his messe, to gamen þan wild he go. 1375Barbour Bruce vii. 402 He vent till hwnt, for till assay Quhat gammyn wes in that cuntre. c1400Melayne 853 Sixty grewhondes vn to þ⊇ gamen. 1523Act 14 & 15 Hen. VIII, c. 10 Noble men..used and exercised the game of huntynge of the Hare. 1576Fleming Caius' Eng. Dogs in Arb. Garner III. 236 These hounds..use not that liberty to range at will, which they have otherwise when they are in game. 1591Troub. Raigne K. John (1611) 49 Tis best we follow now the game is faire. 1592Warner Alb. Eng. vii. xxxvii. (1597) 180 Fatly do they feede Mongst Beasts of chace and birds of game. 1593Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, iv. v. 11 If about this houre he make this way, Vnder the colour of his vsuall game, He shall [etc.]. 1629H. Burton Babel no Bethel 78, I am neither of the hound nor Spaniel kinde, dogges of game. 1650Fuller Pisgah i. ii. iv. 111 The neighbouring Desert affording the pleasure of the Game. 1671Milton P.R. ii. 342 Beasts of chase, or fowl of game. 1719De Foe Crusoe i. ii, This [lion] was Game indeed to us, but this was no Food.
10. a. The object of the chase; the animal or animals hunted.
14..Piers of Fullham in Hartshorne Metr. Tales 122 And steleth away his ffelowes game, And that the ffayrest and fattest of the fflocke. 1486Bk. St. Albans B iv b, Many howndys will benymme theym theyre gamme from ther fote. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 49 The other houndes that seeth y⊇ game foloweth y⊇ same through thycke & thynne. 1555W. Watreman Fardle Facions ii. viii. 169 He is carried vppon an Elephantt: and euen so..throweth the darte at his game. 1611Shakes. Cymb. iii. iii. 98, 107 Hearke, the Game is rows'd..The Game is vp. 1731Arbuthnot Aliments iv. (1735) 78 All Hounds [will follow] the particular Game they have in Chase. 1808Scott Marm. ii. Introd. 24 The wolf I've seen, a fiercer game. Mod. Ballad, Hark forward! Our game's in view, which we pursue With deep-toned horn.
fig.1697Dryden Virg. Past. x. 90 No Game but hopeless Love my thoughts pursue. a1721Prior Cloe Hunting 20 At human hearts we fling, nor ever miss the game.
b. transf. and fig. An object of pursuit; also, an object in view. fair game: a legitimate object of pursuit, attack, etc.; also forbidden game.
1573G. Harvey Letter-bk. (Camden) 9 To take occasion of nu matter and fresh game. 1600Chester Pl. Proem 44 Then our desier is to satisfie—for that is all our game. 1680–90Temple Ess., Gardening Wks. 1731 I. 172 The Knowledge of such Things is not our Game. 1712Addison Spect. No. 311 ⁋6 Widows are indeed the great Game of your Fortune-hunters. 1720De Foe Capt. Singleton x. (1840) 182 We saw our game standing in for the bay. 1780Cowper Table T. 114 A monarch's errors are forbidden game. 1816J. Wilson City of Plague ii. v, The Plague..passes to such game, As thou, and smooth-faced maidens like to thee. 1825Macaulay Ess., Milton (1854) 23 They were indeed fair game for the laughers. 1847Marryat Childr. N. Forest vii, Deerstalking is all very well, but I fly at higher game. 1852C. M. Yonge Cameos I. xxx. 257 As to the unfortunate Jews, each party considered them fair game. 1872C. Gibbon For the King xvi, At any rate she is game much too high for him.
11. collect.
a. Wild animals or birds such as are pursued, caught or killed in the chase.
c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 393/13 Among oþur game huy founden ane heort. a1300Cursor M. 3522 (Gött.) Þat day gamen [Cott. wayth] fand he noght. c1350Will. Palerne 387 Þemperour..fond al his fre ferd, þat hadde take þat time moche trye game. 1488–9Act 4 Hen. VII, c. 6 The dere and game in the same [forest] is destroied and goon. 1672Marvell Reh. Transp. I. 58 One may beat the Bush a whole day, but..for all game, onely spring a Butterfly. 1712E. Cooke Voy. to S. Sea 324 There was Water, Tortoise and Game enough at the middle Island. 1762–71H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) III. 257 He was particularly famous for representations of partridges and dead game. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) III. 110 Sanguinary laws were enacted to preserve the game. 1807Pike Sources Mississ. ii. App. 26 It appeared as if we had just gotten into the region of game. 1833H. Martineau Charmed Sea iii. 31 She..began..to distinguish the traces of game and wild animals. 1860Burton Centr. Afr. I. viii. 251 The country round is full of large game, especially elephants, giraffe, and zebras. 1862Act 25 & 26 Vic. c. 114 §1 The Word ‘Game’ in this Act shall..be deemed to include any One or more Hares, Pheasants, Partridges, Eggs of Pheasants and Partridges, Woodcocks, Snipes, Rabbits, Grouse, Black or Moor Game, and Eggs of Grouse, Black or Moor Game.
b. The flesh of such animals used for food.
1848Thackeray Van.Fair ix, What good dinners you have—game every day..and no end of fish from London. 1853A. Soyer Pantroph. 194 These same men..did not touch young game; they thought it indigestible. 1885Fothergill Dis. Sedent. Life xxxii. 280 Such meat as is taken should consist of white meat, fish or fowl, and game.
c. jocularly, of vermin.
1748G. Washington Jrnl. 16 Mar., Writ. 1889 I. 2 We cleaned ourselves (to get Rid of ye Game we had catched ye night before).
d. slang. (See quot.)
1676Song in Warn. Housekprs. 5 When that we have bit the bloe, we carry away the game. a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Game, Bubbles drawn in to be cheated. 1785Grose Dict. Vulg. Tongue s.v. Game.
12. A flock or herd of animals kept for pleasure. Obs. exc. in a game of swans.
1482Rot. Parl. 22 Edw. IV, VI. 224 Forsomoche that as well the Kyng oure Soverayn Lord, as other Lordes..have ben gretely replenysshed of Markes and Games of Swannes, in divers Countres. 1488Will of Develyn (Somerset Ho.), My game of swannys. 1560in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford 285 For upping of half game [swans] in cowe meade. 1570Order for Swannes in Hone Every-day Bk. (1827) II. 960 No person..shall go on marking without the Master of the Game, or his Deputie be present. 1576Turberv. Venerie 235 If they be many feeding out togethers, we say it is a fayre game of conies. 1577in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford 393 The Quenes mati⊇s servaunte that kepeth her game of beres. 1577Harrison England ii. xix. (1878) i. 307 How manie families these great and small games (for so most keepers call them) haue eaten up. 1683Lond. Gaz. No. 1871/4 The Office and Place of Master of His Majesties Game of Swans within the River of Thames. 1788Nichols Progr. Q. Eliz. (1823) I. 321 Lord Berkeley had a stately game of red deer in the park adjoining. 1889Times 12 Aug. 3/2 There has also been time out of mind..a game of swans building, nesting and breeding there.
13. cock of the game (see cock n.1 2 b).
1575, etc. [see cock n.1 2 b]. 1684R. H. School Recreat. 134 Distempers incident to the Cock or Chick of the Game. 1719D'Urfey Pills III. 329 You have the Name, And would accounted be Cocks of the Game. 1822Scott Nigel xiv, It will be long ere his lordship ruffles a feather with a cock of the game.
14. The characteristics of a game-fowl; spirit for fighting, pluck, endurance. Also predicatively, thorough game, all game, said of a person possessed of these qualities. Cf. game a.
1747J. Godfrey Sc. Defence 64 Smallwood (a boxer) is thorough game. c1783Roxb. Ball. (1890) VII. 93 Such horses of mettle and game As are worthy to be recorded in fame. 1812Sporting Mag. XXXIX. 18 The champion's tried game made him yet a favourite. 1813Ibid. XLII. 243 A young bull of great game, made play for no less than nine-and-twenty dogs. 1823Byron Juan viii. cx, The fifth..died all game and bottom. 1829Marryat F. Mildmay v, He never showed more game. 1845Dickens Lett. (ed. 2) I. 139 They were thorough game and didn't make the least complaint. 1867Criminal Chronol. York Castle 135 This man made a stout resistance, being a very powerful fellow and good game.
15. Short for game-fowl. In quots. collect. with plural concord.
1867Tegetmeier Poultry Bk. xii. 123 Game are preeminently the English fowl; in no other country but our own is the true-bred Game cock indigenous. Ibid. 124 The varieties of Game are very numerous.
II. attrib. and Comb.
16. a. simple attrib. (chiefly in sense 11; cf. also game a.1), as game-beast, game-bird, game-country, game-craft, † game-dog (cf. dog of game in sense 9), game-drive, game-land, game-larder, game-list, game-park, game-path, game-pie, game-pit, game-pouch, game-preserve, game reserve, game-season, game-shot.
1895Westm. Gaz. 21 Sept. 2/2 The largest *game beast of the Polar regions.
1878R. Jefferies Gamekeeper at home vii. 161 The less respectable breeders who rear *game birds like poultry for sale.
1855W. Irving Tour Prairies xviii, We were getting more and more into the *game country.
1883Century Mag. Aug. 485/2 The *gamecraft and markmanship of future generations.
1702W. J. Bruyn's Voy. Levant xiv. 79, I found it harder in my Travels in Turkey to keep a *Game Dog, which I always had with me, than to keep my Self.
1895W. C. Scully Kafir Stories 98 These *game-drives were fraught with considerable danger.
1931J. Mockford Khama vii. 60 The rich tribute in hides, ivory, and ostrich-feathers which the Masarwa bushmen and other vassals occupying the *game-land..brought annually to Shoshong. 1958Listener 16 Jan. 102/1 But unspoilt gamelands, such as those in the Congo, afford unrivalled opportunities for a study of natural balances.
1812Sporting Mag. XXXIX. 135 Produced to the *game larder..the following enormous list of slaughter.
1856Kane Arct. Expl. II. vii. 79 The tide-holes of the spring, where we can add waterfowl to our *game-list.
1897J. L. Allen Choir Invisible xiii, The great neutral *game-park of the Northern and the Southern Indians. 1963A. Smith Throw out Two Hands x. 111 Even the Serengeti, the main game park, had closed its gates.
1856C. J. Andersson Lake Ngami xxxi. 404, I struck into a large ‘*game path’. 1935L. G. Green Great Afr. Mysteries xiv. 181, I saw the first crocodile, waiting at a gamepath to grip its victim by the nose.
1827H. G. Lewis Let. 13 Oct. in J. Constable Corr. (1966) IV. 70 This accompanys a French *game pye, made by my Cook. 1888Lowell in Daily News 26 July 6/3 Longfellow, my friend and neighbour, asked me to come and eat a game pie with him.
1893F. C. Selous Trav. S.E. Africa 409 Many oxen were killed by falling into old *game pits.
1808Scott Marm. v. Introd. 10 The *game-pouch, fishing-rod, and spear.
1863Kingsley Water Bab. 8, Miles of *game-preserves in which..the collier-lads poached at times.
1921Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 27 Mar. 27/2 These [Queen Charlotte] islands would make the greatest *game reserve in the world. 1962J. G. Bennett Witness xix. 231 My visit to the game reserves in Kenya and other parts of Africa.
1800Windham Sp. Parl. 18 Apr. (1812) I. 340 Those very Gentlemen who in the *game-season, as it has been justly said, become their own butchers and poulterers.
1901Kipling Kim xiii. 336 Hurree was no *game-shot,—the snick of a trigger made him change colour. 1927A. Conan Doyle Case Bk. S. Holmes 82 The famous game-shot, sportsman, and man-about-town was a big, swarthy fellow.
b. objective, as (senses 3 and 4) game-playing n. and adj.; game-shy adj.; (senses 10, 11) † game-finder, game-hunting, game-preserver, game-preserving, game-shooting, game-stealer; game-destroying adj.; (sense 11) game-dealer, game-finding n. and adj.; game-proof adj.
1876J. S. Ingram Centenn. Exposition 691 One of the oldest *game-dealers in the West.
1860G. H. K. Vac. Tour 127 Of all snarling, ill-conditioned, *game-destroying brutes in the world, the wild-cat is the worst.
1664H. More Myst. Iniq. xxi. 81 Officious Intelligencers or *Game-finders for such as pursue the pleasures of Venus.
1922R. Leighton Compl. Bk. Dog xi. 159 A better dog for *game-finding than could have been found in any other part of the world. 1960Times 24 Sept. 9/4 A game-finding dog.
1886Pall Mall G. 9 Dec. 2/2 There is still much large *game-hunting for riflemen who go west.
1908Westm. Gaz. 18 Apr. 3/1 Centralisation will mean larger public-houses and greater attractions owing to the crowds, *game-playing,..and late hours. 1909Ibid. 8 Mar. 4/3 They were at ‘famous’ game-playing schools. 1947Auden Age of Anxiety (1948) v. 111 Barns and shrubberies For game-playing gangs. 1970Guardian 29 Apr. 9/6 The long-term objective of Women's Liberation..is an end of ‘game-playing’ between men and women.
1800Windham Sp. Parl. 18 Apr. (1812) I. 339 Quarrels between the game-invaders and the *game-preservers.
1848Thackeray Van. Fair xlv, He talked about crops..entered into poaching and *game preserving with ardour.
1908Daily Chron. 21 Aug. 7/3 A nine-foot *game-proof fence of woven buffalo wire. 1963Times 10 May 10/7 A game-proof ditch between the forest boundaries and the settlement schemes.
1894Sir J. D. Astley 50 Years Life I. 251 At no other *game-shooting have I laughed so much.
1932Auden Orators iii. 92 To work-shy and *game-shy kind.
1825Sporting Mag. XVI. 336 Should we not also have *game-stealers?
c. attrib. and Comb. uses of the plural, esp. in sense 4 e, as games-mad adj., games-mania, game-master, game-mistress, game-room, game-worship.
1960C. Day Lewis Buried Day vi. 108 A *games-mad school.
Ibid. 128 The Sherborne *games-mania.
1902Daily Chron. 16 July 7/1 Special *games-masters and mistresses. 1965G. McInnes Road to Gundagai x. 159 Our combined sergeant, wet-nurse, games-master, school-teacher and doctor.
1907Westm. Gaz. 18 July 10/2 The home supplies also a temperance bar..and *games rooms. 1959House & Garden June 44 The house is on three floors. At garden level is a large gamesroom.
1960C. Day Lewis Buried Day iv. 68 Though we were encouraged to enjoy our games, there was no *games-worship.
17. Special comb.: game-act, an Act of Parliament regulating the killing of game; game-bag, a bag for holding the game killed by a sportsman; game ball (Tennis), the position in which one side requires a single point in order to win; pred. a. (Anglo-Irish slang), excellent, fine; game bantam, a bantam of a fighting breed (cf. game-cock); game-battle (nonce-wd.), an affray with poachers; † game-bear, a bear chained up for baiting; game-board = board n. 2 c; game-book (see quot. 1807); game-cast (Bowls), a ball placed so as to make sure of the game; game-certificate = game-licence; game-chick, a game-chicken; game-chicken, a young game-fowl; game chips, very thin fried chipped potatoes served with game (sense 11 b); game debt, a debt incurred by play or gaming; game-egg, an egg laid by a game-fowl; game-fish, a fish which affords sport to the angler in its capture; game-forcing a., in Bridge, denoting a bid intended to instruct one's partner to continue the bidding until a contract is reached that will win a game; † game-goblin, a sprite that plays pranks at night; game-goer, in Bridge, a bid that undertakes to win a game; so game-going a.; game-hen (see game-fowl); game-hole, the last hole in a cribbage-board; † game-house = gaming-house; game-licence, a licence to kill or deal in game; gamelike adv. [after warlike], for purposes of sport; † game-man, ? a jester, joker; † game-mistress (cf. sense 3 b); game-piece, (a) = piece n. 12; (b) a painting of game (sense 11); † game-place, a place where games are played, an arena for contests; † game-play, a stage-play; † game-player, an athlete or actor; game-rhyme, a rhyme used in a game; game show orig. U.S., a television light-entertainment programme in which celebrities or members of the public compete in a game or quiz, often for prizes; game-tenant, one who rents the shooting or fishing on an estate; game(s) theory, the mathematical theory of situations of conflict (such as occur in games of skill, in economics, and in war), esp. as used to determine the most advantageous strategy for any of the participants; hence game-theoretic, -theoretical adjs.; game-theorist; game-trespass, trespassing in pursuit of game; game-warden (see warden n.1 7 b). Also game-cock, game-fowl, game-keeper, game-law.
1711Addison Spect. No. 122 ⁋3 He is just within the *Game-Act, and qualified to kill an Hare or a Pheasant.
1826Miss Mitford Village Ser. ii. (1863) 349 Powder-horns, shot-belts, and *game-bags scattered about.
1893Westm. Gaz. 26 Apr. 5/3 Here he was unfortunate, losing by a ‘let’ when the game stood at *gameball—10. 1916Joyce Portrait of Artist iii. 119 That's game ball. We can scut the whole hour. 1922― Ulysses 224 That'll do, game ball, Blazes Boylan said.
1867Tegetmeier Poultry Bk. xxiii. 248 *Game Bantams, both cocks and hens, should be exact and perfect diminutives of the ordinary Game fowl.
1826in Cobbett Rur. Rides (1885) II. 200 There was another young man..on account of another *game-battle, hanged on the same gallows!
a1625Beaum. & Fl. Custom Country iv. iv, Do not make a *game-bear of me, to play me hourly, And fling on all your whelps.
1934Discovery Oct. 287/2 Though found in Central Ireland, this *game⁓board betrays Celto-Norse influences in the border pattern.
1807Southey Lett. from England I. xxv. 293 A *game book, as it is called, is one of the regular publications, wherein the sportsman may keep an account of all the game he kills, the time when, the place where. 1964R. Perry World of Tiger i. 10 On a first examination of the game-books it seems a miracle that there could have been any tigers left alive in India by the end of that [sc. the nineteenth] century.
1724Bp. Downes in Nicolson Epist. Corr. 584 A *Game-cast lay so near the Jack, that there was no drawing it, or possibility of saving the game without driving the Jack out of the green.
1812Act 52 Geo. III, c. 93 §5 marg., Additional Duties assessed for Current Year, except on *Game Certificates, which commence from 5th April 1813.
1937Brit. Birds XXXI. 166 A special *game-chick and poultry investigation.
1748Richardson Clarissa (1811) III. 236 A *game chicken that was continually pecking at another. 1844Thirlwall Greece VIII. 155 Democrates only warned him, ‘if he had any designs upon Sparta, to hasten them before this game-chicken's spurs were grown’.
1951Good Housek. Home Encycl. 478/2 Accompaniments vary slightly for different birds, but thin gravy, *game chips and fried crumbs are usual. 1961G. Smith Business of Loving xi. 222 Some pheasant with game chips.
1824S. E. Ferrier Inher. xxxii, Owing E. L. seven thousand pounds for his *game debts.
1699Garth Dispens. iv. 105 Thus Boys hatch *Game Eggs under Birds o'prey, To make the Fowl more furious for the Fray. 1897Westm. Gaz. 20 May 10/1 The attention of rural police and magistrates is almost monopolised by game egg charges.
1883Fisheries Exhib. Catal. 277 Our freshwater fish-fauna is certainly poor in *game-fish.
1945Phillips & Reese How to play Bridge v. 28 *Game⁓forcing bids of unlimited strength. A jump bid in a new suit, such as Two Spades over One Heart, or Three Clubs over One Diamond.
14..Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 597/31 Negocius..hic dicitur demon nocturnus qui illudit homines, vel qui ludit cum hominibus, the *game gobelyn.
1929M. C. Work Compl. Contract Bridge 7 Dealer having made a bid that is not a *game-goer.
1929M. C. Work Compl. Contract Bridge i. 6 The dealer's first concern when he picks up his hand is to get his side into a *game-going contract if game is in their cards.
1867L. Wright Pract. Poultry Keeper ii. (1885) 15 When there is a good wide range of any kind, a few *Game hens may be found profitable.
1870Hardy & Ware Mod. Hoyle, Cribbage 89 Sixty one holes each including the ‘home’ or the *game-hole.
1579J. Northbrooke Treatise 48 Common *game-houses and tabling houses.
1861Act 24 & 25 Vic. Index, *Game Licences.
1581Mulcaster Positions xviii. (1887) 78 Who used it [fencing] warlike for valiauntnesse in armes..*game-like to winne garlandes and prices.
1340Ayenb. 63 Þe hyeȝinges of þe lozeniour and of þe *gememen and of þe scorneres.
1676G. Etherege Man of Mode ii. ii, Go on, be the *game-mistress o' the town, and enter all our young fops as fast as they come from travel.
1929Daily Express 3 Jan. 15/5 How these *game-pieces..were played in olden days. 1956Hedström & Taylor tr. Bergström's Dutch Still-Life Painting vii. 247 The Dutch game-piece, with which we shall..include pictures of dead domestic birds, is a late branch of still-life painting.
1547–64Bauldwin Mor. Philos. (Palfr.) 90 He, which in the *game place runneth swiftest, and continueth still his pace, obtaineth the crowne for his labour. 1606Day Ile of Guls ii. ii. (1881) 39 The Ladies reskewed and the Princes, like crauens, beate out of the game-place!
1564tr. Jewel's Apol. E iiij b, They were laughed and iested at openly of the people in the common *game-playes.
1552Huloet, *Game players, ludii. 1564Becon Humble Supplic. Wks. III. 18 b, The papistes decke themselues lyke Hycke scorner in game players garmentes. 1587Golding De Mornay i. 10 Caligula, who threatned the Ayre if it rained upon his Gameplaiers.
1927W. E. Collinson Contemp. Eng. 13 Old *game-rhymes from the district. 1959I. & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolch. vii. 112 Shirley Temple and Deanna Durbin are two of the stars most often mentioned in game rhymes.
1961Sat. Even. Post 21 Oct. 19/1 The set announced, ‘It's Time to Say When!’ and after a commercial, the first of the day's ‘*game shows’ began. 1975Business Week 24 Feb. 78/2 With much..time filled by adult game shows, McGannon is asking that stations be obliged to set aside a time..when only children's programs would be allowed on the air. 1984Broadcast 7 Dec. 22/1 The year has seen the successful development of a new game show for Channel Four.
1891Pall Mall G. 10 Nov. 5/2 Mr. A. Williamson, *game tenant, for the past two seasons has made a great pet of this animal.
1962Antioch Rev. XXII. 8 What are we to think of a civilization which has not been able to talk about killing almost everybody except in prudential and *game-theoretic terms?
1962Listener 19 Apr. 693/2 Weapons systems and *game-theoretical studies.
1964K. Winetrout in I. L. Horowitz New Sociol. 156 As a mathematician, he may become a *game-theorist with Herman Kahn and others.
[1928J. von Neumann in Math. Ann. C. 295 (heading) Zur Theorie der Gesellschaftsspiele.] 1954J. D. Williams Compleat Strategyst i. 13 One-person games are uninteresting, from the *Game Theory point of view... Most of the work done to date in Game Theory deals with the two-person game. 1957Luce & Raiffa Games & Decisions i. 10 Game Theory is a model for situations of conflict among several people, in which two principal modes of resolution are collusion and conciliation. 1959I. Jefferies 13 Days iii. 38, I don't like cards, but I did some games-theory once and I could handle the well-known ones. 1961Listener 12 Oct. 558/1 The ‘game theory’, as it is now being called, is being used to construct quite sophisticated theoretical frameworks to a variety of natural phenomena... Its mathematics can..be used to deal with matters not always thought of as games, such as military situations, labour-management relationships and foreign trade. 1969B. Sutton-Smith in R. D. Abrahams Jump-Rope Rhymes p. ix, Much of the work of the world is carried on through mathematical games theory. 1971G. K. Roberts Dict. Political Anal. 86 Game theory is a useful analytical technique, and has been employed in the study of..campaign tactics in an election, coalition formation,..etc.
1896Westm. Gaz. 5 Dec. 7/2 If..they lost the first hare on the prosecutor's land, and started another on the same land, they were guilty of *game-trespass.
▸ orig. Sport. at the top of one's game (also on top of one's game): on top form, at one's best; at the height of one's powers. Cf. top n.1 15a.
1896Times 25 May 7/3 Many a man who is possessed of this mistaken idea is at the top of his game in his youth, and plays regularly for years afterwards without the least improvement. 1927Frederick (Maryland) Post 20 Oct. 3/4 The Yankees, a truly great ball club when in the proper mood, were at the top of their game. 1977C. Bukowski Love is Dog from Hell 296, I watch him walk away. Some men are always on top of their game. I am mostly always confused. 1989D. Morrow & M. Keyes Conc. Hist. Sport in Canada 226 His stoic resting pose against the butt end of his goalie stick—indicating that he was at the top of his game—threw shivers into many opposing forwards. 2004Impact Aug. 58/2 You really need to be on top of your game to follow the complex narrative and the movie definitely benefits from multiple viewings.
▸ slang (orig. in African-American usage). Skill or prowess, esp. in basketball or other sports. Freq. in I (also he, she, etc.) got game.
1989‘Sir Mix-A-Lot’ (title of song) I got game. 1996Sports Illustr. (Electronic ed.) 20 May I don't believe in that stuff about how youth can't win NBA championships... If you got game, you got game. 2002Fast Company June 140/2 S. is cute, but that J., she got game... J. should never have been my wife—she should have been my business partner! 2004T. Nasheed Play or be Played p. xii, If you don't have game, in every aspect of your life, there will be people who will simply try to get over on you.
▸ game console n. an electronic device (usually requiring connection to a television) on which computer games may be loaded and played.
1977Business Week (Nexis) 17 Jan. d34 Companies trying to stay competitive will face a twofold problem. They will have to stay abreast of the latest computer hardware and software technologies just to build the *game consoles and the peripheral devices that will soon be sprouting from them. 1987Consumer Electronics (Nexis) Sept. 33 Somebody was out there buying piles of cartridges and game consoles during video games' halcyon days. 2000Daily Tel. 16 Mar. (Connected section) 3/1 The high street fight will be staged late next year when Sony and Microsoft duke it out over the future of the game console.
▸ game face n. N. Amer. colloq. (orig. Sport) a look or manner characterized by single-minded dedication, determination, or seriousness; freq. in to have on one's game face and variants.
1965Washington Post 31 Oct. c4/7 It's a different Gale Sayers when the game is near... Then he puts on his *game face. 1988S. Lee Jrnl. 16 July in Do Right Thing (1989) 98 Two days before we shoot... I feel ready. I've got my game face on. 2005N.Y. Times (National ed.) 13 Oct. e7/6 He looks down on crying at work... ‘I am a true believer in keeping the game face when you're in the office setting,’ he said.
▸ games console n. = game console n. at Additions.
1983Business Week (Nexis) 14 Mar. 124 [The company] has managed to secure a profitable niche by pioneering a product that is seemingly immune to the cutthroat competition that plagues *games consoles and software cartridges. 1992Guardian 20 Feb. 33 Nintendo has confirmed that it will launch the Super Nintendo games console here ‘this spring’. At {pstlg}149.99 it will cost {pstlg}20 more than the Sega Megadrive. 2000Independent 21 Feb. ii. 11/5 It is the first games console to be connected to the Internet as standard.
▪ II. game, a.1|geɪm|
[f. the n. (sense 15).]
a. Having the spirit of a game-cock; full of pluck, showing ‘fight’; plucky, spirited. (Said of animals, and of persons, their actions and attributes.) Esp. in Australia in colloq. phr. (as) game as Ned Kelly: very spirited or brave.
1727[see c]. 1765Meretriciad 20 You're game egad—too much for such a cur. 1809Sporting Mag. XXXIV. 3 What they term a game fellow. 1815L. Simond Tour. Gt. Brit. (ed. 2) I. 127 note, A tried cock, dog, or man, is game. 1827–39De Quincey Murder Wks. 1862 IV. 16 If these Friesland hounds had been game we should have no Cartesian philosophy. 1836W. Irving Astoria I. 230 American hunters..possessed of the true game spirit of the west. 1851Mayne Reid Scalp Hunt. xxiii, She [the mare] was evidently game to the backbone. 1852R. S. Surtees Sponge's Sp. Tour lxviii. 379 The burning scent of a game four-legged fox. 1867F. Francis Angling ix. (1880) 335 The white-trout is one of the gamest fish that swims. 1888A. S. Swan Doris Cheyne iii. 54 You're game, Miss Doris; you have a spirit equal to the occasion. 1897M. Kingsley W. Africa 399 They brought with them no experience in dealing with a great rapid river; but they tackle it in a game way. 1941Baker Dict. Austral. Slang 30 Game as Ned Kelly, highly courageous; willing to tackle big odds. 1956S. Hope Diggers' Paradise 89 A common expression on the lips of Aussies of both sexes to describe someone engaged in a risky enterprise is ‘he's as game as Ned Kelly’. 1969Sun-Herald (Sydney) 13 July 13/3, I asked him [sc. Mick Jagger] if he had heard the expression ‘as game as Ned Kelly’. He said he had.
Comb.1886Pall Mall G. 2 Aug. 5/2 Some rather game-looking, but attenuated, salmon-shaped fish were denominated herring hake.
b. Having the spirit or will for or to do (something adventurous).
1856Reade Never too late I. xxi. 216, I am game to try. 1859H. Kingsley G. Hamlyn II. ix. 164 That's a little more than you're game for, I'm thinking. 1874G. W. Dasent Tales fr. Fjeld 14 He was quite game to do that.
c. to die game: to meet death resolutely; fig. to maintain one's spirit and endurance to the last.
1727Gay Beggar's Opera, Good bye, captain..die game, captain. 1815Scott Guy M. liv, The ruffian lay perfectly still and silent. ‘He's gaun to die game ony how’, said Dinmont. 1840Marryat Poor Jack xliii, I shall die game. 1873H. Spencer Stud. Sociol. viii. (1874) 186 The mob of roughs who witness the hanging of a murderer..half condone his crime if he ‘dies game’. 1886Sir F. Doyle Remin. 167 Undisguisedly exulting that he and his borough had died game.
▪ III. game, a.2|geɪm|
[Etymology uncertain.
App. adapted from north midland dialects, where it has the form gam, homophonous with the local pron. of game n.1; perh. shortened from the synonymous gammy. The suggestion that it is adopted from Welsh cam (fem. gam) crooked, is unlikely, as the alleged primary sense of ‘crooked’ which is given in Dicts. seems to be an etymological figment.]
Of a leg or arm: Lame. Also transf.
1787Grose Provinc. Gloss., Game-leg, a lame leg. 1818Scott Hrt. Midl. xxviii, A queer, knowing, shambling animal, with a hatchet-face, a squint, a game-arm, and a limp. 1849Thackeray Pendennis II. iii, Warrington..said that Bacon had got the game chair, and bawled out to Pen to fetch a sound one from his bedroom. 1854W. Gaskell Lect. Lanc. Dial. i. 4 A poor schoolfellow of mine who had a bent leg..was commonly said to have a ‘gam’ leg. 1875J. Payn Walter's Word I. i. 4 You see..with a game-arm..and a game-leg..one feels a little helpless.
▪ IV. game, v.|geɪm|
Forms: α. 1 gam(e)nian, 3–5 gam-, gomen-en, 4 gamne-n, 4, 6 gamen. β. 3 gome-n, 4–5 gam(m)e-n, -yn, 4 gayme, (7–9 dial. gam), 3– game.
[The αforms represent OE. gam(e)nian (= ON. gamna), f. gamen, game n.1 The βforms, which appear first in the 13th c., are strictly another word, independently f. the later shortened form of the n.]
1. intr. To play, sport, jest; to amuse oneself; occas. to indulge in amorous play. Obs. exc. dial.
αc1000ælfric Gen. xix. 14 Þa wæs him ᵹeþuht, swilce he gamniᵹende spræce. a1050Liber Scintill. lv. (1889) 172 Gamenian [L. jocari] mid cnafan. a1300Floriz & Bl. 31 Hi..pleide and gamenede ehc wiþ oþer. a1400–50Alexander 4370 Quen we gamen suld & glade we grete & we pleyn. 1583Stanyhurst æneis, etc. (Arb.) 153 Thee owtragious oathes hee vsed too thunder owt in gamening.
βa1225Ancr. R. 368 Þet heo gleowede and gomede and wedde mid oðer men. c1485Digby Myst. (1882) i. 329 If ye abide, watkyn, you and I shall game with my distaff that is so Rounde. 1561Schole-ho. Wom. 264 in Hazl. E.P.P. IV. 115 Bid him go, when he would game, Unto his customers. 1594Daniel Compl. Rosamond (ed. 2) xlix, We see the fair condemned that never gamed. a1652Brome Mad Couple iii. Wks. 1873 I. 55 My Lord Lovelies Gammed with her. 1886S.W. Linc. Gloss. s.v., ‘They were gamming’, that is, playing in fun.
†b. to game at: to make fun of, deride. Obs.
1621W. Sclater Tythes (1623) 54 When I..affirme first fruits mysticall resemblances of Christ..how merily game you at mee!
†2. trans. To amuse, please, give pleasure to.
αa1300Cursor M. 7409 Quen [dauid] wit gleu wald him gammen, His scepe þam-self war sembel samen. 13..Sir Beues (A.) 3192 Ne gamnede hire þat gle riȝt nouȝt. c1330R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 18 Sone with þe Danes gamned þam no glewe.
βc1430Sir Tryam. 462 Moche myrthe was them amonge, But ther gamyd hur no glewe.
†b. impers. with dat. of pronoun: I (he, etc.) am (is, etc.) pleased or delighted. Obs.
αa1225St. Marher. 11 Me gomeneð ant gledeð al of gastelich murðe.
βc1205Lay. 4588 Godlac hauede a god scip: ne gomede him no wiht.
†c. slang. To make fun of. Obs.
a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew s.v., What you game me?
3. intr. To play at games of chance for a prize, stake, or wager; to gamble. Also quasi-trans. with cognate obj.
α1510–61[see gaming vbl. n.].
β1529Privy Purse Exp. Hen. VIII (1827) 14 Item delivered to the kinges grace owne handes for to game therewt now at this tyme of Cristemas, C li. 1555W. Watreman Fardle Facions ii. xi. 249 Thei [Turkes] game not for money, or any valewe elles. 1610B. Jonson Alch. iii. ii, Why would you be a gallant, and not game? 1648W. Jenkyn Blind Guide iii. 49 A fit cock for such a cock-pit as you game in. 1706Estcourt Fair Examp. ii. ii, But for the future, if she must game, if she must play, it shall be like Children, for crooked Pins and Counters. 1762Goldsm. Nash 28 Tho' he gamed high, he always played very fairly. 1777Sheridan Sch. Scand. iv. ii, 'Tis a great pity he..loves wine and women so much..And games so deep. 1823Byron Juan xiv. xviii, When we have..gamed our gaming. 1834H. Martineau Farrers iv. 58 The same power may tempt the people to game in lotteries. 1863Geo. Eliot Romola i. xiv, Certain ragged men..were inviting country people to game with them.
b. quasi-trans. with advb. compl.: To throw away (money), wile away (time) by gambling.
1634Heywood & Brome Lanc. Witches i. H.'s Wks. 1874 IV. 182 No longer agoe than last holiday evening he gam'd away eight double ring'd tokens. 1709S. Centlivre Gamester v. (1723) 191 He gam'd it away, brother. 1760C. Johnston Chrysal (1822) I. 222 The profusion with which she gamed away her money. 1782Burke Ref. Repr. Wks. 1812 V. 398 It is for fear of losing the inestimable treasure we have, that I do not venture to game it out of my hands for the vain hope of improving it. 1837Mrs. Caulfeild Deluge 116 Here are dice—Let's..game away these dismal hours. |