| 释义 |
▪ I. play, n.|pleɪ|
Forms: α. 1 pleᵹa, Angl. plæᵹa, 3 pleȝe, plæȝe, pleay, pleiȝe, 3–7 pley, 4 plei(e, 4–5 pleye; 4 plai, 5–7 playe, 6 plaie, 4– play. β. 1 Merc. plaᵹa, 3 plaȝe, plahe, 3–7 plawe, 4 plau, 5 plaw. γ. 3 pleoi, pleowe, ploȝe, plohe.
[OE. pleᵹa (plæᵹa, plaᵹa), wk. n. from root of pleᵹ(e)an, -ian, plæᵹian, plaᵹian to play, q.v. As in the verb, the phonology is difficult; the OE. forms vary in the vowel: the usual WSax. pleᵹa and Anglian plæᵹa have given the mod. play; the Anglian plaᵹa gave ME. plahe, plawe, and plau. The 13th c. γ forms appear to mix the two types ple(o)ȝe and plawe.]
I. Exercise, brisk or free movement or action.
†1.
a. Of living beings: Active bodily exercise; brisk and vigorous action of the body or limbs, as in fencing, dancing, leaping, swimming, clapping of the hands. Obs. or merged in other senses.
c725Corpus Gloss. 1477 Palestra, plaeᵹa. a900Cynewulf Crist 743 Þa wearð burᵹwarum, eadᵹum, ece ᵹefea æþelinges pleᵹa. a1000Guthlac 1334 Lagu-mearᵹ snyrede ᵹeblæsted to hyðe, þæt se hærn-flota æfter sund-pleᵹan sond-lond ᵹespearn. a1000Cædmon's Gen. 1989 Þær wæs heard pleᵹa, wælgara wrixl, wiᵹcyrm micel, hlud hildesweᵹ. c1050O.E. Chron. an. 1004 (MSS. C. & D.) Þæt hi næfre wyrsan hand pleᵹan on Angel cynne ne ᵹemetton þonne Ulfcytel him to brohte. c1050Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 414/14 Gesticulatio, pleᵹa. c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 211 C[h]orea ceruisia forum monasterium..þat on is pleȝe, þat oder [sic] drinch, þe þridde chepinge, þe ferðe chirche. Ibid., At pleȝe he teldeð þe grune of idelnesse, for al hit is idel þat me at pleȝe bihalt..þih and shonkes and fet oppieð, wombe gosshieð. a1290St. Eustace 280 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1881) 217 Þere nes non at þare plawe Wiþ sheld and spere out i-drawe Þat hoere dunt atstode.
b. The gestures made by cock birds to attract the hens.
1875‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Sports i. i. iv. §1. 72 The ‘play’ of the capercaillie is very remarkable; it is confined to the males, who indulge in it in order to astonish and excite the hens.
c. The action of lightly and briskly wielding or plying (as a weapon in a contest). Also in combinations, as buckler-play, sword-play.
Beowulf 2039 Oð ðæt hie forlæddan to ðam lindpleᵹan swæse ᵹesiðas. c850Kentish Gloss., Libera tuta [tua] pelta, ᵹefria ðine plæᵹsceldæ. a1000Waldere 13 Ðy ic ðe ᵹesawe æt ðam sweordpleᵹan..wiᵹ forbuᵹan oððe on weal fleon. 1670[see sword-play]. 1839Longfellow Black Knight ii, In the play of spears, Fell all the cavaliers. 1860Dickens Uncomm. Trav. vii, Some of the sword play being very skilful. 1899E. J. Chapman Drama Two Lives, Fir-tree 78, I thrust him to earth, and he lay there, For all his boasted play. 1901Daily Chron. 21 Oct. 8/6 The latter's play being very correct, and his parries both neat and effective.
2. a. Of physical things: Rapid, brisk, or light movement, usually alternating or fitful; elusive change or transition (of light or colour); light motion about or impact upon something.
a1628F. Grevil Mustapha Chorus ii. Wks. (1633) 116 A play of Sunne-motes from mans small World come. 1801Southey Thalaba vi. viii, Alternate light and darkness, like the play Of sunbeams on the warrior's burnish'd arms. 1805W. Saunders Min. Waters 494 This operation always admits the play of air upon the feverish body. 1850Bryant Saw-Mill Poet. Wks. (1903) 370 The saw, with restless play, Was cleaving through a fir-tree Its long and steady way. 1875Dawson Dawn of Life ii. 13 Iridescent play of colours. a1878Sir G. G. Scott Lect. Archit. (1879) I. 224 This gives..great play of light and shade.
b. Short for play of light or colour (as above).
1698Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 214 You may set it upon full scraped Ivory, which graceth the Play of the Stone. 1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 715 The intention of foils is either to increase the lustre or play of the stones, or more generally improve the colour, by giving an additional force to the tinge. Ibid. 716 To stones or pastes, that have some share of play, it gives a most beautiful brilliance.
†3. (In form plaw.) A boiling up, ebullition. Obs.
c1440Promp. Parv. 403/2 Plaw, or plawynge, bullicio, ebullicio. 1601Holland Pliny xiv. xvii, Boile them al together at a soft fire, until they haue had ten plawes or walmes.
4. fig. and gen.
a. Action, activity, operation, working: often implying the ideas of rapid movement or change, variety, etc. (Now almost always of abstract things, as feeling, fancy, thought, etc.; formerly of persons.)
1599Shakes. Hen. V, iv. viii. 114 Without stratagem, But in plaine shock, and euen play of Battaile. 1649J. E[llistone] tr. Behmen's Epist. vi. §44 God hath made all things in his Divine pley or operation out of his Spiration. 1800tr. Lagrange's Chem. I. 312 There will be a play of double affinity, and a double decomposition will take place. 1837Disraeli Venetia iii. ii, That enchanting play of fancy which had once characterized her. 1874L. Stephen Hours in Library (1892) I. vi. 232 The play of evil passions gives infinite subjects for dramatic interests. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. p. xviii, The lively play of fancy.
b. Phr. † in play: actively engaged or employed; so out of play, unoccupied, out of employment or office (obs.). in full play: in full action or operation, acting with its full force.
1661Pepys Diary 2 Sept., There are endeavours to get my Lord out of play at sea. 1669Ibid. 26 Jan., My Lord Privy Seale, whom I never before knew to be in so much play, as to be of the Cabinet. 1719Swift To Yng. Clergyman Wks. 1755 II. ii. 19 Men who were impatient of being out of play, have been forced to..reconcile their former tenets with every new system of administration. 1844Alb. Smith Adv. Mr. Ledbury xviii, The usual bustle was in full play. 1873Lytton Coming Race v, There was a huge engine in the wall which was in full play.
c. to hold or keep (a person, etc.) in play (orig. to hold or keep (a person) play): to keep exercised, occupied, or engaged; to give (a person) something to do (usually in the way of self-defence or delay, as in a contest). Also, to keep (something) in exercise or practice (quot. 1809).
a1548Hall Chron., Hen. VIII 37 b, The Capitayn..prayed God that the Kynge of Scottes woulde come wyth hys puyssaunce, for he woulde kepe hym playe tyll the tyme that the Kynge of Englande came oute of Fraunce. 1582Munday Eng. Rom. Life 10 They must war within, while other holds them playe with out. 1600Holland Livy xxvii. xlvi. 662 [He] had by all the devises and policies of warre, mocked him and kept him play. c1645Tullie Siege of Carlisle (1840) 12 Forest was the only man who held the Cavalliers in play. 1648Gage West Ind. 30 To overcome them, or else to hold them play. 1714Swift Pres. St. Affairs Wks. 1755 II. i. 207 A struggling faction kept them continually in play. 1809Malkin Gil Blas v. i. ⁋7 To keep my devotion and my wind in play by the rehearsal of an anthem or two. 1842Macaulay Lays, Horatius xxix, I, with two more to help me, Will hold the foe in play. 1851J. Richardson in Harper's Mag. Jan. 234/2 Nothing that we have fallen in with..could hold her play.
d. to come into († in) play: to come into action or operation, become active (formerly of persons: cf. b). So to bring or call into play: to begin to exercise, bring into action, make active.
1650Weldon Crt. Jas. I 41 Salisbury liking not that any of Essex his faction should come into play. 1691Locke Lower. Interest Wks. 1727 II. 54 Today your new Coin comes in play, which is 5 per Cent. lighter. 1706E. Baynard in Sir J. Floyer Hot & Cold Bath. ii. 336 A Distemper in England almost worn out, but now it begins to come in Play again. 1799H. More Fem. Educ. (ed. 4) I. 115 Those societies in which their kind of talents are not likely to be brought into play. 1842A. Combe Physiol. Digestion (ed. 4) 124 The muscular fibres of the stomach..next come into play. 1865M. Arnold Ess. in Crit. ii. 81 The intelligence and judgment of Mr. Ruskin..are brought into play. 1874Carpenter Ment. Phys. i. i. §3 The reaction of his brain upon the impressions which called it into play.
e. to make play: in Racing and Hunting, to exercise pursuers or followers; in Pugilism, to deliver blows actively or with effect; hence gen. to act effectively, produce an effect; to hasten or hurry on. (In quots. 1813, 1889, to keep an adversary engaged: cf. c.)
1799E. Du Bois Piece Family Biog. I. 152 A pause having succeeded..Mr. Burley thought it a fit time (in the jockey-term) to make his play. 1808Sporting Mag. XXXII. 76 Gully made play, and planted two other blows on his adversary's head. 1809Ibid. XXXIII. 89 The fox..made play towards Mr. Thellusson's. 1813Ibid. XLII. 243 A young bull of great game, made play for no less than nine-and-twenty dogs. 1824Byron Juan xvi. lxxviii, But I'm too late, and therefore must make play. 1857Hughes Tom Brown ii. v, There he goes in, making play with both hands. 1883Scotsman 11 July 10/1 Fontenoy made play to the distance, where the favourite took the lead. 1889Doyle Micah Clarke 75, I trust that the Duke will muster every man he can, and make play until the royal forces come up.
5. a. Free or unimpeded movement (usually from or about a fixed point); the proper motion of a piece of mechanism, or a part of the living body.
1653Walton Angler ii. 53 Give him [the chub] play enough before you offer to take him out of the water. 1733Tull Horse-Hoeing Husb. xxii. 326 Now the Distance between these two Marks, is the Measure..of the Tongue's Play at the place of pressure. 1778Johnson in Mme. D'Arblay's Diary Aug., Such a..restless, fatiguing play of the muscles. 1794Rigging & Seamanship II. 270 The great length..is an obstacle to the play of the rudder. 1856Aytoun Bothwell ii. vii, And felt once more The pulse's stirring play. 1897Pall Mall Mag. Aug. 526 The girl..was an arch, ogling person, with..a great play of shoulders.
b. Freedom or room for movement; the space in or through which anything (esp. a piece of mechanism) can or does move.
1659J. Leak Waterwks. 18 The two Buckets..have about three feet play, rising and falling. 1703Moxon Mech. Exerc. 30 Square Staples, just fit to contain the Bolt with an easie Play. 1793Herschel in Phil. Trans. LXXXIII. 217 The shake, or play, of the screw is less than 3-tenths of a division. 1858G. Macdonald Phantastes (1878) II. xxi. 142 The overlappings in the lower part [of the armour] had more play than necessary. 1860Merc. Marine Mag. VII. 113 Taking care to allow at least an inch of play. 1876J. Rose Compl. Pract. Machinist xix. 359 Suppose, for instance, there was even a trifling amount of play in the eccentric or any of the bolts.
c. fig. and gen. Free action; freedom, opportunity, or room for action; scope for activity.
1641Milton Reform. ii. Wks. 1851 III. 37 Yet to give them play front, and reare, it shall be my task to prove that Episcopacy..is not only not agreeable, but tending to the destruction of Monarchy. 1711Addison Spect. No. 160 ⁋9 They..form themselves altogether upon Models, without giving the full Play to their own natural Parts. 1787J. Whitaker Mary Q. of Scots Vind. I. i. §3. 24 Those scenes..where he might have a play for his activity in cunning. 1837Sir W. Hamilton Metaph. xliv. (1870) II. 477 All pleasure, thus, arises from the free play of our faculties and capacities. 1857Buckle Civilization I. viii. 543 Their comprehensive minds would, in that state of society, have found no play. 1888Bryce Amer. Commw. II. lii. 325 To allow the fullest play to the Sentiment of State independence.
d. Attention or patronage; a show of interest; publicity. slang (orig. U.S.).
1929D. Runyon in Hearst's International July 57/1 Everybody goes to the Chicken Club now and then to give Tony Bertazzola, the owner, a friendly play. 1931F. L. Allen Only Yesterday viii. 189 The insignificant Gray-Snyder murder trial got a bigger ‘play’ in the press than the sinking of the Titanic. 1935J. O'Hara Appointment in Samarra 46 The Apollo [sc. a hotel] got a big play from salesmen who had their swindle sheets to think of. 1959Wall St. Jrnl. 20 Nov. 17/2 Du Pont Co.'s nylon 501, brought out late last year, is getting a big play this fall from James Lees & Sons Co. and E. T. Barwick Mills, Inc., and other mills have nylon 501 carpets in production. 1970Washington Post 30 Sept. b2/2 Asked her opinion on the ‘youth revolt’, she replied: ‘I think it's such a minority—it gets far too much play.’
II. Exercise or action for amusement or diversion; and derived uses.
6. a. Exercise or action by way of recreation; amusement, diversion, sport, frolic. (In early use sometimes in bad sense: Vicious or profligate indulgence, revelling.) at play, engaged in playing.
c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 55 Vte we..al þese..daȝes forleten blisfulle songes, and pleȝe, and leden clenliche ure lif. 13..E.E. Allit. P. B. 1502 In þe poynt of her play he poruayes a mynde. a1400Pistill of Susan 53 Whon þeos perlous prestes perceyued hire play. a1450Knt. de la Tour (1868) 155 That is my play and my gladnesse to be aboute hym, and forto do hym seruice unto his ease and plesaunce. 1523Fitzherb. Husb. §153 It is conuenient for euery man..to haue playe & game accordynge to his degre. 1562J. Rowbotham Cheasts A j, Most men are geuen rather to play then to studye. 1667Milton P.L. iv. 404 A Tiger, who by chance hath spi'd In some Purlieu two gentle Fawnes at play. 1712Arbuthnot John Bull i. iii, John naturally loved rough play. 1818Byron Ch. Har. iv. cxli, But where his rude hut by the Danube lay There were his young barbarians all at play, There was their Dacian mother. Proverb, All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
βc1430Hymns Virg. 111 Ceesse, & seie to hir no sawe To make hir for to synne assent, Ne please hir not with no nyce plawe, But kepe weel cristis comaundement.
γc1205Lay. 20844 Þan voxe þenne he bið baldest..& hafeð his fulle ploȝe [c 1275 pleay] & fuȝeles inoȝe.
†b. Enjoyment, pleasure, joy, delight; a source of delight. Obs.
1340Ayenb. 92 Hi nemeþ and useþ þe lostes ulessliche and þe pleȝes þet be þe vif wyttes comeþ. 1362Langl. P. Pl. A. xii. 90 Þat þi play be plentevous in paradys with aungelys. c1460Towneley Myst. xvi. 363 Alas! and walo⁓way! my child that was me lefe! My luf, my blood, my play, that neuer dyd man grefe! 1503Dunbar Thistle & Rose 181 Our peax, our play, our plane felicite.
βc1400Laud Troy-bk. 15358 Achilles than & his ffelawe Rode so forth with mochel plawe.
c. Amorous disport; dalliance; sexual indulgence. Now rare or Obs.
a1000Riddles xxi. 28 (Gr.) Ic wið bryde ne mot hæmed habban, ac me þæs hyhtpleᵹan ᵹeno wyrneð. c1400Rom. Rose 4876 The pley of love, for-ofte seke. a1425Cursor M. 9247 (Trin.) Mathan gat Iacob in pleye, Iacob Ioseph soþ to seye. 1565Randolph in Tytler Hist. Scot. (1864) III. 215 He knoweth himself that he hath a partaker in play and game with him. 1667Milton P.L. ix. 1045 Till dewie sleep Oppress'd them, wearied with thir amorous play.
βc1250Gen. & Ex. 537 Wapmen bi-gunnen quad mester, bi-twen hem-seluen hun-wreste plaȝe.
7. a. Jest, fun, sport (as opp. to earnest); trifling. Often in phr. in play.
a1300Cursor M. 2816 Bot al þat loth to þaim can sai, Þam thoght it was not bot in plai. c1386Chaucer Clerk's T. 974 Grisilde quod he as it were in his pley, How liketh thee my wyf and hire beautee? c1420Lydg. Assembly of Gods 1662 Chaunge from ernest in to mery play. 1500–20Dunbar Poems xxxiii. 27 To sum man thair it was no play The preving of his sciens. 1513More Rich. III (1883) 60 The king..made her answer part in ernest, part in play merely. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 367. I desire not sacrifices and inwards, these are plaies. a1907Mod. Don't be offended; I only said it in play. (More commonly in fun.)
βa1300Cursor M. 18167 (Cott.) Hell and ded..O þair pride thoght þam litel plau And gaf a cri wit mikel au. c1320Sir Tristr. 3101 Aski sche wil in plawe, And say þou comest fro me. c1325Spec. Gy Warw. 15 If þu louest more worldes god Þan god him-sel[e] in þi mod, Þu shalt hit finde an yuel plawe.
b. play of words: a playing or trifling with words; the use of words merely or mainly for the purpose of producing a rhetorical or fantastic effect. play on or upon words: a sportive use of words so as to convey a double meaning, or produce a fantastic or humorous effect by similarity of sound with difference of meaning; a pun. See also word-play.
1739Hume Hum. Nat. (1874) I. ii. ii. 339 To confess..that human reason is nothing but a play of words. 1798Ferriar Illustr. Sterne, etc. Genius 278, I cannot suspect so excellent a poet of Buchanan, of any intentional play on the words ingenium and genius. 1810D. Stewart Philos. Ess. iii. 123 A childish play upon words, quite foreign to the point at issue. 1850Robertson Serm. Ser. iii. ix. 114 It was..no mere play of words which induced the apostle to bring these two things [fulness of the Spirit and fulness of wine, Eph. v. 18] together. 1871Freeman Norm. Conq. IV. xviii. 174 To a Latin or French speaker the name of Urse might have suggested an easy play upon words. 1881Jowett Thucyd. I. Introd. 14 The Speeches of Thucydides everywhere exhibit the antitheses, the climaxes, the plays of words..of the rhetorician.
8. a. (with pl.) A particular amusement or diversion; a game, a sport. Now rare or Obs.
a700Epinal Gloss. 577 Ludi litterari(i), staebpleᵹan. 971Blickl. Hom. 99 Heora bliss & heora pleᵹan wæron swiðe ᵹenihtsume. 13..Guy Warw. (A.) 812 He þat best doþ þat day, Þer he schal winne þat play. 13..Cursor M. 28146 (Cott.) Caroles, iolites, and plaies. c1400Mandeville (1839) iii. 17 For joustynges, or for other pleyes and desportes. a1533Ld. Berners Huon liii. 178, I shall cause thee to be assayed at y⊇ playe of the chesse. a1533― Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546) C vij b, Dyuers persounes were assembled in the hygh mountayne Olimpius, to celebrate the playes. 1588Shakes. L.L.L. iv. iii. 78 All hid, all hid, an old infant play. 1659D. Pell Improv. of Sea 418 When the Sea was calm, they were at their sports and playes. 1728T. Sheridan Persius iii. (1739) 44 The Boys had a Play of pitching Nuts into a narrow-mouth'd Vessel. 1798Jane Austen Northang. Abb. i, She was fond of all boy's plays. 1841–4Emerson Ess., Experience Wks. (Bohn) I. 178 The plays of children are nonsense, but very educative nonsense.
βa1225Leg. Kath. 106 Ne luuede ha nane lihte plahen [v.r. plohen]. c1250Gen. & Ex. 3575 Moyses cam ner and saȝ ðis plaȝes, And ðis calf, and ðis ille laȝes.
b. A country pleasure-fair or wake. dial.
1847–78Halliwell, Play.. a country wake. Somerset. 1886Stevenson Kidnapped xxii, Like people lifting weights at a country play.
†9. transf.
a. An act or proceeding, esp. of a crafty or underhand kind; manner of action, method of proceeding; a trick, dodge, ‘game’. Obs. (exc. as in 12).
a1300Cursor M. 16898 Þar bes an iuel plai. 1481Caxton Reynard iii. (Arb.) 7 Maister reynard..bygan to playe his olde playe [orig. hi speelde sijn oude speel], ffor he had caught kywaert by the throte. 1572Satir. Poems Reform. xxx. 183 Ȝit was the pepill puneist for sic playis. 16..Locke (J.), The answerer on his side makes it his play to distinguish as much as he can. 1702Eng. Theophrast. 184 When a man has any notable defect about him, 'tis the best of his play to try the Humour, if he can turn it into a fashion. 1746Rep. Cond. Sir J. Cope 151 In case they keep only to their strong Passes, which hitherto has been their ‘Play’.
β1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 5906 Vpe þin owe heued it ssal come þi moderes luþer plawe Þoru ssedinge of þi broþer blod þat þus is ybroȝt of dawe.
†b. A device of magic, a trick of conjuring, or the like. Obs.
1426Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 3803 Yiff I now made a newe pley, ffor to take the sonne away. c1450Merlin 362 Than seide the mayden, that he sholde make yet a-nother pley that neuer myght faile.
10. a. The carrying on or playing of a game.
a1450Myrc 336 Bal and bares and suche play. a1550Christis Kirke Gr. i. i, Nowthir at Falkland on the grene, Nor Peblis at the play. 1610Shakes. Temp. v. i. 186 What is this Maid, with whom thou was't at play? 1673Temple Observ. United Prov. Wks. 1731 I. 76 No Man at Play sees a very great Game..unexpectedly lost, but he is apt to consider, whether it could have been saved. 1736Gray Statius i. 32 Phlegyas the long-expected play began. 1736in Waghorn Cricket Scores (1899) 17 The weather proving very rainy, they were forced to give over play. 1882Daily Tel. 24 June, Play was very slow,..twenty minutes being consumed in getting ten runs.
β13..Guy Warw. (A.) 3176 Michel y desire þi loue to haue. Go we togider wiþ game & plawe.
b. Manner or style of playing; skill in playing.
1531Elyot Gov. i. xxvi, If fortune brynge alwaye to one man iuell chaunces, whiche maketh the playe of the other suspected. 1773in Waghorn Cricket Scores (1899) 91 The match of cricket,..showing great play on both sides. 1824Scott St. Ronan's xviii, Lord Etherington seemed at first indolently careless and indifferent about his play. 1850‘Bat’ Cricket. Man. 101 His ‘forward play’ is..peculiar. 1883G. A. MacDonnell Chess Life-Pictures 166 Eliciting his opponent's best play.
c. A point in playing, a special device in a game. (Cf. 9.)
1778C. Jones Hoyle's Games Impr. 41 If you win that Trick, your next Play is, to throw out the Queen of Trumps.
d. in play: said of a ball, etc. = being played with, being used in the course of the game. So out of play. Hence play, transf. (in Cricket and Football), that part of the ground within definite boundaries in which the game, or the chief part of it, is carried on.
c1788Laws of Cricket §14, The Striker is out..if, in striking, or at any other time while the ball is in play, both his feet are over the popping-crease, and his wicket put down. 1816W. Lambert Instr. & Rules Cricket 34 Always endeavour to hit the Ball on the same side on which it is bowled, and not draw it across the play. 1849in ‘Bat’ Cricket. Man. (1850) 56 If the striker touch..the ball while in play. Ibid. 60 The fieldsman must return the ball so that it shall cross the play between the wicket and the bowling stump. 1857T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days i. v. 109 As soon as the ball gets past them, it's in touch, and out of play. 1882Australians in England 22 He got half way up the play, and just reached the ball with one hand. 1900Westm. Gaz. 12 Dec. 7/2 Walton tried another big kick, but the ball fell in play, and was well returned by Strand-Jones. 1976South Notts Echo 16 Dec. 7/3 The ball bounced across the goal line and into play.
e. Phr. † ball play (obs.), boy's play, child's play: applied to anything that involves very little trouble, or is of very little importance; a very easy or trifling matter. (See ball n.1 21, boys'-play, child n. 18.) Formerly also with a (see 8).
a1225Ancr. R. 184 Al nis bute ase bal pleowe [MS. C ploȝe]. c1386, etc. [see child n. 18]. c1450tr. De Imitatione iii. xxxvii. 107 Lorde, þis is not o. days werke ner children pley, but, þat more is, in þis shorte worde is includid all perfeccioun of Religiose folke. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 179 The persecution of thys yere was but a balle playe in comparison of that. 1579Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 246/1 To make this allegorie, is but a boyes play. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 322 Elderly gentlemen who had seen service which was no child's play. 1850Scoresby Cheever's Whalem. Adv. v. (1859) 74 This towing of captured whales is no boy's play.
† f. In the game of Beast: see quot. Obs.
1674Cotton Compl. Gamester xxv. 153 They make three heaps, the King, the Play, and the Triolet... He that wins most tricks takes up the heap that is called the Play.
g. An attempt to achieve or gain something; a move, manœuvre, or venture; spec. (a) U.S. Sports, an attacking move in a team game; an action that advances one's team's interest; (b) an attempt to attract or impress a person of the opposite sex; freq. in phr. to make a play (for). slang (orig. U.S.).
1868H. Chadwick Game of Base Ball 46 A ‘treble play’ is made when three players are put out after the ball is hit, before it is pitched to the bat again. 1905‘H. McHugh’ Get Next! 75 His intentions are honorable and he wishes to prove them so by shooting his lady love if she renigs when he makes a play for her hand. 1906H. Green At Actor's Boarding House 87 She had once made a play for the Swede, but he couldn't see her. 1912C. Mathewson Pitching 174 Most clubs try to keep an umpire feeling hostile toward the team because, even if he means to see a play right, he is likely to call a close one against his enemies, not intending to be dishonest. 1930Amer. Mercury Dec. 457/1 We make a play on their plant, but don't score. 1939E. S. Gardner D.A. draws Circle ii. 26 Stall the thing along, make it casual, and be sure to back my play. 1943D. Powell Time to be Born vi. 132 If you were twenty years younger I'd make a play for you, no fooling. 1961P. Field Rattlesnake Ridge xiv. 170 It's the second time War Ax hands made a play for that money. 1961Dallas Morning News 10 Oct. ii. 2 Gannon contributed saving plays on the Falcons' aerial thrusts in the late stages. 1966Wodehouse Plum Pie i. 26 Grab the girl while the grabbing's good, because..your nephew Bertram is making a heavy play in her direction. 1969Official Baseball Rules 13 A double play is a play by the defense in which two offensive players are put out as a result of continuous action. 1972Newsweek 10 Jan. 30/2 In the U.S., a guard is supposed to handle the ball and set up plays. 1973N. Moss What's the Difference? 45/1 Play, n, a team's action in American football, hence a strategic move towards a goal. 1973E. Page Fortnight by Sea viii. 88 She'd been certain he would make a play for her the moment Lockwood took himself off. 1978S. Brill Teamsters ii. 60 The attempt that finally worked was the play by Giacalone, to get Hoffa to a peace meeting.
11. spec. The playing of a game or games for money or other valuable stakes; gaming, gambling.
a1300Floriz & Bl. 376 Ȝerne he wule þe bidde and preie Þat þu legge þe cupe to pleie. a1580in Stanyhurst's æneis, etc. (Arb.) 153 By losse in play men oft forget Thee duitye they dooe owe. 1683Evelyn Mem. (1857) II. 194 He has lost immense sums at play. 1710in Lond. Gaz. No. 4754/4 William Bradbury, Esq.; Deputy Groom-Porter, will open his House..to Morrow.., to keep Play for all Persons of Quality and Gentlemen, being the only Person authorized so to do. 1769Junius Lett. i. (1820) 4 A young nobleman,..ruined by play. 1845McCulloch Taxation ii. viii. (1852) 325 During the carnival, when, from the excitement of the season, the extent of play is always the greatest.
12. In phrases fair play, foul play: rarely lit. (in sense 10); usually fig. (in sense 9) action, conduct, dealing: see fair a. 10 c, foul a. 14 b. So † false play, treacherous dealing (obs.). while the play is good (Sc.), before the situation becomes serious, dangerous, or unpleasant.
c1440Gesta Rom. lx. 248 (Harl. MS.) Tristing..that the lion wolde have I-made a foule pleye withe þe lorde & withe þe lady. 1567J. Maplet Gr. Forest 84 He is good in finding out false play or adulterie done. a1586Sidney Arcadia ii. (1590) 181 b, To preuent any foule play that might be offered vnto me. 1595, etc. [see fair a. 10 c]. 1610, etc. [see foul a. 14 b]. 1678Butler Hud. iii. ii. 1068 We threw the Box and Dice away, Before y'had lost us at foul Play. 1770C. Jenner Placid Man vi. iv, She endeavoured..to give both sides fair play. 1816Scott Old Mort. xxxvi, Come, laddie, speak while the play is good; you're too young to bear the burden will be laid on you else. 1853Lytton My Novel i. xii, In strict truth, it was hardly fair play—it was almost swindling. 1888Daily News 14 Feb. 3/4 His hat and bag being missing has given rise to the conjecture of foul play. Mod. Sc. Stop now while the play is good; you have gone far enough.
13. [from the notion of recreation, sense 6] Cessation or abstinence from work; the condition of being idle, or not at work (as of workmen on strike, or out of employment); the play (Sc.), holiday from school.
1601Shakes. All's Well i. i. 23 A father..whose skill.., had it stretch'd so far, would haue made nature immortall, and death should haue play for lacke of worke. 1723Wodrow Corr. (1843) III. 33 There was never a schoolboy more desirous to have the play than I am to have leave of this world. 1772Mrs. Montagu in Doran Lady Last C. vii. (1873) 173 The doctor allowed me to ask a play for the boys, which made them very happy. 1826J. Wilson Noct. Ambr. Wks. 1855 I. 150 You micht hae gien him the play the day, I think, sir, you micht hae gien him the play. 1845Disraeli Sybil (1863) 116 When miners and colliers strike they term it going to play. 1866Ruskin Crown Wild Olive 20 Down in the black north country, where ‘play’ means being laid up by sickness. 1892Daily News 26 Feb. 5/7 The question of ‘play’ [is] to be discussed at the next conference [which] will settle the question how long the cessation of work is to last. 1900Strain Elmslie's Drag-net 281 It was Saiterday mornin'—they get the play frae the school.
III. Mimic action, dramatic performance.
14. a. A mimic representation of some action or story, as a spectacle upon the stage, etc., a dramatic or theatrical performance. † Rarely without article, Dramatic performance, acting (quot. c 1325). Esp. in phr. as good as a play: very entertaining or amusing; a play within a play: a play acted as part of the action of another play (also with the, usu. with reference to Shakespeare's Hamlet).
c893K. ælfred Oros. vi. ii. §2 Wearþ eft Godes wracu Romanum, þa hie æt hiora theatrum wæron mid heora pleᵹan. c1325Poem Times Edw. II 285 in Pol. Songs (Camden) 336 Hii ben degised as turmentours that comen from clerkes plei. c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 429 As men seyen in þe pley of ȝork. c1400Destr. Troy 2923 Hit is wondur to wit of wemen dissyre, Þat..prese vnto playes pepull to beholde. 1556Chron. Gr. Friars (Camden) 12 This yere beganne a gret pley from the begynnyng of the worlde.., that lastyd vij. dayes contynually. 1601J. Manningham Diary (Camden) 18 Wee had a play called Twelve Night. [1638J. Taylor Bull, Beare, & Horse sig. C7, It was as good as a Comedy to him to see the trees fall.] 1672Marvell Rehearsal Transpros'd 53 It was grown almost as good as a Play among us. 1767Woman of Fashion I. 96, I went to the Play, as they call it—Play, indeed! Faith, Brother, I think it was past a Joke. 1827T. Creevey Let. 22 Nov. in Creevey Papers (1963) xiii. 232 This morning after breakfast he has been as good as a play. 1868Helps Realmah xvii. (1876) 475 Give me some good plays to go to, played by great players. 1871Mrs. H. Wood Dene Hollow xx, The tale that Master Jarvis told was as good as a play. 1875[see good a. 11 b]. 1925A. Huxley Those Barren Leaves ii. iii. 111 He is the life and soul of Miss Carruthers's establishment... To see him with Fluffy—it's as good as a play. 1952W. Plomer Museum Pieces xviii. 160 His eager account of the play was itself ‘as good as a play’. 1975D. M. Davin Closing Times vi. 129 ‘He's as good as a play,’ my own parents would have said of him, had they known him.
1883Oxf. Mag. 17 Oct. 308/1 He knew that the play within the play was meant for the conscience of the king. 1918Mod. Lang. Rev. XIII. 151 The idea of having a play within the play is a famous one. 1935Ibid. XXX. 433, I believe that in the circumstances surrounding the death of Francesco Maria I della Rovere, Duke of Urbino, we may well see the ultimate origin, not only of the play within the play, but of other elements in the plot of Hamlet. 1937G. Rawson tr. Schücking's Meaning of Hamlet i. i. 3 The main action..reaches its apogee in the ‘play within a play’, a device that richly entertains both eye and ear. 1961Times 24 Jan. 13/3 A play-within-a-play..convinces the audience that the actors are real addicts. 1973Listener 26 Apr. 563/1 As a variation on the play-within-a-play we had the documentary-within-a-play.
b. transf. A performance, proceeding, piece of action (in real life).
1581G. Pettie Guazzo's Civ. Conv. iii. (1586) 172 b, The Count saide nothing to it, but..attended the ende of the play. 1849Thackeray Pendennis xlv, This little play being achieved, the Marquis of Steyne made..two profound bows..and passed on.
15. A literary composition in the form of dialogue, adapted for performance on the stage with appropriate action, costume, and scenery, in imitation of real events; a dramatic piece, a drama.
c1440Promp. Parv. 404/1 Pley..þat begynnythe wythe myrthe, & endythe wythe sorowe, tragedia. 1530Palsgr. 255/2 Playe an enterlude, farce. Ibid., Playe of sadde matters, moralité. 1542–3Act 34 & 35 Hen. VIII, c. 1 By..balades, plaies, rimes, songes, and other phantasies, subtilly and craftely instructing his highnes people. 16022nd Pt. Return fr. Parnassus iv. v. (Arb.) 58 Few of the vniuersity pen plaies well, they smell too much of that writer Ouid,.. and talke too much of Proserpina and Iuppiter. 1712Steele Spect. No. 266 ⁋2 A Scene in one of Fletcher's Plays. 1806R. Cumberland Mem. (1807) I. 203, I had no expectation of my play being accepted. 1892Tennyson in Mem. (1897) II. 423, I have just had a letter from a man who wants my opinion as to whether Shakespeare's plays were written by Bacon. I feel inclined to write back, ‘Sir, don't be a fool’.
IV.
16. a. Performance on a musical instrument. rare. ? Obs. (Usually playing.)
1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 5514 Þere he harpede so wel þat he payde al the route... After mete þo hii nolde nammore of is pley Hii ȝeue him siluer uor is gle, & lete him go is wey. c1407Lydg. Reson & Sens. 1762 In his lifte honde A flowte he helde..Ther with to pipe and make play. 1642Tasman Jrnl. in Acc. Sev. Late Voy. i. (1694) 133 The play which they heard was much like that of a Jews-Trump. 1755Johnson, Play, n.s...8. Act of touching an instrument.
b. The act of playing a gramophone record. colloq.
1961in Webster. 1963Guardian 15 June 3/7 The juke boxes each achieve 800 ‘plays’ a week. 1967Melody Maker 29 Apr. 10/4 It's nice party dance music..but the attention tends to wander after a few plays. 1974Listener 3 Jan. 28/1 About eight records are played on each edition of Top of the Pops. That makes for four thousand ‘plays’ in ten years. 1978Oxford Times (City ed.) 13 Jan. 15 A catchy tune with a sprightly arrangement that might make a hit if it gets enough plays on the radio.
V.
17. attrib. and Comb., as (in senses 6–11) play-activity, play-area, play-bell, play-centre, play-clothes, play-form, play-garden, play-hole, play-hour, play-impulse, play-instinct, play-lady, play-language, play-matter, play-park, play-place, play-sack, play-season, play-shed, play-song, play-space, play-spell, play-task, play-theory, play-toy, play-world, play-yard; † play idle, play-ruined, play-wearied adjs.; (in senses 14 and 15) play-conceit, play-fable, play-folk, play-gull, play-haunter, play-judger, play-lover, play-opera, play-poem, play-poet, play-producer, play-reader, play-reading, play-story, play-taster, play-wrecker, play-writer; play-producing adj.; play-writing n. and adj.; play-act v. intr., to act in a play; to be suitable for acting in a play; also trans., to act (a scene, part, etc.); freq. fig., to pretend, make-believe; to behave theatrically or insincerely; play-acting, the acting of a play or plays, dramatic performance; also fig. and as ppl. a.; also (Sc.) play-actor, an actor of plays, a dramatic performer (= actor 4, player1 4); hence play-actorism, action or manner characteristic of a play-actor, theatrical or affected style or performance; play-actoring ppl. a.; play-actress, a female actor of plays (= actress 2); play-bird, a tame bird used as a decoy for catching wild birds in a net, in connexion with a play-line and play-stick; play-bone, a bone played with: = knuckle-bone 2 b; play-box, a box in which a child, esp. at a boarding-school, keeps toys, books, and other personal possessions; also transf. and fig.; † play-boy, a school-boy actor; playbroker orig. U.S., an agent who serves as an intermediary between playwrights and managers or actors; playbus, a bus adapted for children to play in; play-by-play a., denoting a running commentary on a game; also ellipt. as n.; play-card, (a) = play-bill; (b) repr. non-standard pronunc. of placard n. 2; play-club (Golf), a wooden-headed club used in playing the ball off from the tee, a driver; play-debt, a debt incurred at play, a gaming debt; play-doctor, a professional improver of other people's plays; play-dough orig. U.S., a child's modelling clay; † play-dresser, one who arranges plays for acting; † play-end, an end of a speech from a play, a ‘tag’; play face, an expression seen in apes or monkeys at play, in which the mouth is open but the teeth are hidden; play-field, † (from 14) a field in which a play is acted; (from 10) a field for playing in, a playground; playfight, a fight in play; hence play-fighting n. and a.; play-green ? Obs., a piece of land suitable for children to play on; play-jobber, a writer of plays for hire; playland, an area suitable for recreation; play-leader, an adult who leads or helps with children's play; the leader of, or a helper at, a play-group; so play-leadership; play-line, a line or cord attached to a play-bird (q.v.), by means of which it is ‘played’ or caused to flutter so as to entice other birds into the net; play-lunch Austral. and N.Z., a snack taken by children to school for eating at playtime; play-map, a dissected map for playing with, a puzzle-map; play-mare (Sc.) = hobby-horse n. 2; play-material, (a) material used by children at play; (b) (see quot. 1969); play-method = play-way; playmobile, (a) (with capital initial) the proprietary name of a type of toy motor vehicle; (b) a vehicle containing facilities for a play-group; play-money, money won by play or gaming; play-monger, a dealer in, i.e. writer of, plays; play-night, (a) a night on which a play is performed; (b) in Jamaica, a night of entertainment in connection with a funeral; play-party, (a) a party at which a play or plays are performed; (b) U.S. dial., a party at which games are played, esp. dancing-games without music; also attrib.; play-pen, an enclosure in which a young child may play in safety; play-pretty U.S. dial., a toy, plaything; play-right, the author's proprietary right of performance of a musical or dramatic composition; playscheme, a local project offering play facilities for children, esp. during school holidays; play school, a nursery-school or kindergarten (orig. U.S.); play-seer, one who (habitually) sees plays, a playgoer; play-stick, a stick upon which a play-bird (q.v.) is tied by a loose knot; play-street, a street closed to traffic so that children can play in it; play suit, (a) an actor's costume (obs. rare); (b) a light, casual outfit; play-table, a gaming-table; play therapy Psychol., therapy in which emotionally disturbed children are encouraged to act out and express their fantasies and feelings through play, aided by the therapist's interpretations; hence play therapist; play-way, an educational method which seeks to utilize play; play-white S. Afr. (see quot. 1956); playwrite v. trans., to write in the form or style of a play; playwriter = playwright; playwriting vbl. n. See also play-bill, -book, etc.
1896G. B. Shaw Let. 6 Sept. (1965) I. 650, I always cut myself to the bone, reading the thing over and over until I have discovered the bits that can't be made to *playact anyhow. 1901N. Munro Doom Castle iv. 39 Very well pleased at the chance your coming gave him of play-acting the man of war. 1915F. M. Hueffer Good Soldier iii. i. 140 She wished to appear like the heroine of a French comedy..she was always play-acting. 1938S. V. Benét Thirteen O'Clock 321 They had to play-act whatever happened. 1962I. Murdoch Unofficial Rose xv. 149 Or they might cold-bloodedly have play-acted the scene together, laughing about it afterwards. 1969Listener 5 July 28/2 She wanted more dirty experience: could he not play-act a rapist? 1974A. Price Other Paths to Glory ii. vi. 190 Most of us were play-acting—pretending to be soldiers.
1857Trollope Barchester T. I. x. 138 Did you ever..hear anything so like *play-acting as the way in which Mr. Harding sings the litany?.. There must be no more play-acting here. 1873Symonds Grk. Poets vii. 184 The habit of play-acting..never wholly expired. 1875P. Ponder Kirkumdoon 142 Gettin' a vain play-actin' cretur to be oor minister. 1896E. Terry Let. 4 Dec. in Ellen Terry & Shaw (1931) 133 Why don't you both come round after the play up to my room? Mayhap she doesnt like playacting folk? 1903Daily Chron. 16 Oct. 5/2 Elizabeth Inchbald, beloved of playgoers in her day both for her play-writing and her play-acting. 1938M. Allingham Fashion in Shrouds xi. 175 Georgia was doing no play-acting for Val. They were equals coming down to essentials. 1954J. R. R. Tolkien Fellowship of Ring 183 You might be a play-acting spy, for all I can see, trying to get us to go with you. You might have done in the real Strider and took his clothes. 1972J. Blackburn For Fear of Little Men iii. 45, I don't give a damn what you do, but I'm tired of play-acting.
1890W. James Princ. Psychol. II. xxiv. 429 The immense extent of the *play-activities in human life is too obvious to be more than mentioned. 1927G. A. de Laguna Speech, Its Function & Development iv. 72 It was the adaptation of the play-activity to the needs of social coordination that was the essential agency in the process [of developing human speech].
1633Prynne Histriomastix **vij b, If any *Play-Actors or Spectators thinke themselves injured by any censure I have here past upon them. 1893F. F. Moore I Forbid Banns 138 We are more or less play-actors.
1836J. M. Wilson Tales of Borders III. 29 Pittin sic daft-like notions intil a bairn's head as to read *play-actorin books an' novels.
1851Carlyle Sterling ii. vii. 156 Sterling's view of the Pope..doing his big *play-actorism under God's earnest sky. 1867― Remin. (1881) II. 187 Our main revenue three or four (?) years now was lectures;..Detestable mixture of prophecy and play-actorism.
1822Cobbett Weekly Reg. 30 Mar. 773 To those daughters..he gave a late *play-actress for mother-in-law! 1857W. Collins Dead Secret i. i, Did you ever hear that our mistress was a play-actress when our master married her?
1968Punch 13 Mar. 388/3 The day is not far off when all that will be left of unspoilt countryside will be designated ‘*Play Areas’, with good parking and litter facilities and a free issue of blinkers to see what is left of the view. 1979Lore & Lang. Jan. 1 Built before the turn of the century, the two tarmac play areas would nowadays be considered cramped.
1878M. Browne Pract. Taxidermy ii. 26 An important actor in the performance is the ‘*playbird’, which is a bird braced by a peculiar knot or ‘brace’..on an arrangement called the playstick. Ibid. 27 Directly birds appear, the playline is smartly pulled, which has the effect of jerking the playbird upwards, while at the same time it flutters its wings to regain its perch. This motion is mistaken by the wild birds as a natural proceeding; they accordingly alight around the playbird.
1865Boy's Own Mag. VI. 72/2, I had withdrawn from the school⁓room to ‘the loft’,.. a long room above the school, where *play-boxes were deposited. 1882F. Anstey Vice Versa v. 103 Let every boarder go down into the box-room and fetch up his playbox, just as it is, and open it here before me. 1909(title) The play-box, a picture reading book for little folks. 1923Galsworthy Captures 56, I had taken them out of my playbox, together with the photographs of my parents and eldest sister. 1929W. Deeping Roper's Row viii. 80 At her aunt's in Vane Street she had an attic which she called her studio, a young woman's play-box, and all that she knew she had taught herself by drawing things and yet more things. Ibid. xxi. 234 For, to Ruth Avery, No. 7 Roper's Row was a child's play-box, and much more than that—for it was the first playbox of her very own that she had possessed. 1949I. Compton-Burnett Two Worlds & their Ways iv. 143 Here is the key of your playbox, Bacon. 1972Even. Telegram (St. John's, Newfoundland) 23 June 3/1 When they tolerate a bunch of dandies sitting in that fancy playbox on..New Gower Street?
1630B. Jonson New Inn i. i, Pretty boy! Goes he to school?.. He prates Latin, An it were a parrot, or a *play-boy.
1910N.Y. Dramatic Mirror 12 Mar. 9/4 Practically all of the new playwrights have been discovered by *play-brokers. 1929Evening News 9 Jan. 11/2 Major James Clare, a leading playbroker, who is also a dramatist.
1975Village Winter 85 This interesting *playbus experiment in Cumbria... The provision of holiday play facilities for village children. 1976Ann. Rep. Manpower Services Comm. 1975–76 iii. 23/2 On Merseyside, young people are working with craftsmen to convert buses into playbuses.
1927Amer. Speech II. 241/2 The football extra, containing a ‘*play by play’ story of all but the last few minutes, is locked on the press with a hole left in the plate. 1931F. L. Allen Only Yesterday viii. 207 Thousands more sat in warm living-rooms to hear the play-by-play story over the radio. 1966J. Ball Cool Cottontail (1967) x. 101 He turned on the radio and listened to a play-by-play of the California Angels. 1976Times Lit. Suppl. 2 Jan. 13/3 The bulk of the book is given over to what looks like a play-by-play account of Hegel's thought. 1976Billings (Montana) Gaz. 17 June 1-h/4 Announcers Lane Saunders and Bernie Lustig will provide the color and play-by-play, and a variety of guests will be lined up for half-time interviews. 1979D. Anthony Long Hard Cure ix. 89, I began giving him a play by play of the events of Friday night.
1881P. Fitzgerald World behind Scenes iv. 268 The Court Theatre, the Princesses, and the St. James have adopted square cards of a pale blue tint—an abnormal and inconvenient form. In the instance of the first-named house it is folded diagonally, it is a *play card, and no longer a bill. 1934T. S. Eliot Rock i. 40 On Christmas Day we can organize a Anti-God procession..with playcards an' ex'ibitions exposin' all the dope o' Christianity.
1908Westm. Gaz. 1 Feb. 7/3 The *play-centres, far from tending to diminish the influence of home life, actually made the children appreciate it more. 1914Encycl. Relig. & Ethics VII. 363/2 The ‘play-centre’, where, outside school hours, children who have no play⁓ground but the street, are taught organized games. 1936G. M. Young Victorian England ix. 60 The Mechanics' Institutes..sank into play-centres for serious clerks. 1973Daily Tel. 6 July 2/1 More than 80 London play centres are to be opened during the school summer holidays where children can play games, watch television, paint or read.
1919Ladies' Home Jrnl. Mar. 62 Turn kids out in..*Play Clothes—and let them play. 1959Times 26 Jan. 11/1 Wit in styling, good fabrics and lovely colours are what the designers of ‘play’ clothes usually offer. 1971Times Lit. Suppl. 20 Aug. 990/2 Japanese are not the only ones to feel irritation when they see elderly American tourists in gaudy ‘play clothes’ cavorting in Tokyo as if it were another Honolulu.
1857Chambers' Inform. People II. 693/2 The *play-club is for swiping off the tee, and is further used throughout the green if the ball is lying fair, and the distance more than a full drive from the hole you are approaching.
1673[R. Leigh] Transp. Reh. 22 This we took for a *play-conceit ill transpros'd.
1712Addison Spect. No. 295 She has several *Play-debts on her Hand, which must be discharged very suddenly. 1760Foote Minor i. Wks. 1799 I. 241 They wou'd as soon now-a days pay a tradesman's bill, as a play debt. 1887Spectator 8 Oct. 1333 Agreements..they would regard as Englishmen regard play-debts.
1922,1938*Play doctor [see doctor n. 6 c]. 1967P. McGerr Murder is Absurd ii. 32 A play doctor was brought in to rework Rex's unfinished script. 1978I. B. Singer Shosha vii. 128 In America we have men who are called play doctors. They can't write a line themselves, but somehow they know how to rearrange a piece and make it right for the stage.
1959J. Foster Educ. in Kindergarten (ed. 3) xi. 176 Clay, plasticine, *play dough, sawdust and paste,..all afford the child the opportunity to make a three-dimensional impression of one sort or another. 1969B. Ryan Your Child & First Year of School iii. 56 Play dough, if it is made from scratch from salt, flour, water, and perhaps a little alum powder as a preservative, gives an even broader experience of chemistry before little fingers begin to manipulate it. 1970G. R. Taylor Doomsday vi. 126 Asbestos powder mixed with water is even given to children, in some schools, as play-dough. 1977C. McFadden Serial xi. 29/2 She was standing at the sink digging the play-dough out of her demitasse cups.
1601B. Jonson Poetaster v. iii. 225 Arraigned vpon the Statute of Calumny..by the name of Demetrivs Fannivs, *play-dresser and plagiary. [Cf. iii. iv. 339 One Demetrivs, a dresser of plaies about the towne.]
1599― Cynthia's Rev. iv. i, Letting this gallant expresse himselfe..with *play-ends and pittifull verses.
1868Milman St. Paul's xi. 313 The indecencies of their heathenish and idolatrous *play-fables.
1962J. A. R. A. M. van Hooff in Symp. Zool. Soc. No. 8. 120 (heading) The Play Face. Ibid. 121 Suddenly one of the partners may..show the *play face in the direction of the other who will immediately react by resuming the play. 1966R. & D. Morris Men & Apes vi. 213 The play face..is performed by a number of species during vigorous bouts of playful wrestling and tumbling and is particularly obvious in young chimpanzees. 1971J. van Lawick-Goodall In Shadow of Man ix. 99 He opened his mouth in the play-face or chimpanzee smile. 1973Observer (Colour Suppl.) 16 Dec. 32/2 Certain facial expressions are also used [by monkeys to establish friendship with one another], such as the ‘playface’—a smile with teeth covered. 1977Savage & Rumbaugh in D. M. Rumbaugh Language Learning by Chimpanzees xvi. 300 A playface given with vocal laughter and head-covering can be used as a signal to continue tickling.
1568Bannatyne Poems (Hunter. Cl.) 463 Heir begynnis the Proclamatioun of the Play, made be Dauid Lynsayis, of the Month, Knicht in the *Playfeild. 1883Besant All in Garden Fair (1886) 22 This forest play-field.
1922Joyce Ulysses 442 An armless pair of them flop wrestling, growling, in maimed sodden *playfight.
1932S. Zuckerman Social Life Monkeys & Apes xvii. 277 The *play-fighting activities and bodily examinations continued intermittently. 1953Psychological Rev. LX. 293/1 Among the social interactions there were a few instances of serious aggression, many occurrences of bluffing or exhibitionistic behavior, a great deal of play-fighting, wrestling, [etc.].
1764Foote Patron iii. Wks. 1799 I. 354 The words the *playfolk were talking.
1911J. A. Thomson Biology of Seasons ii. 224 For the endless task of finding out about the world has its *play-form—which is obviously one of the roots of science. 1963G. J. McCall in A. Dundes Mother Wit (1973) 425 As has happened with so many play-forms of games..it has become a ‘multi-situated game’, requiring a vast proliferation of goals, roles, and strategies.
1916A. S. Neill Dominie Dismissed xiii. 153 The attraction of a *play-garden school with its charms of social intercourse.
c1650Lillumwham in Hales & Furnivall Bishop Percy's Folio MS. (1867) Loose & Humorous Songs 98 Other three on won *play greene. 1800M. Edgeworth Parent's Assistant (ed. 3) II. 178 All the children..were assembled in the play-green. 1812― Absentee in Tales Fashionable Life VI. ix. 131 He went to the village school—a pretty, cheerful house, with a neat garden and a play-green.
1610Histrio-m. ii. 308 Give your *play-gull a stool, and my lady her fool, And her Usher potatos and marrow.
1634Documents agst. Prynne (Camden) 49 It speakes onely of the expenses of common *play-haunters at publike playes and theatres.
1880Carnegie Pract. Trap. 8 The traps will have to be set in the runs and about the *play-holes (i.e., burrows only used, as their name implies, for playing or for use during the day).
1741Richardson Pamela IV. lxiv. 454 The Misses at their Books too, or their Needles; except at their *Play-hours, when they were never rude, nor noisy. 1857Hughes Tom Brown Pref. (1871) 11 His play-hours are occupied in fagging. 1925Blunden English Poems 19 And blushed for pride when other girls and boys Laughed at us sweethearts in the playhour's noise.
1890W. James Princ. Psychol. II. xxiv. 427 The sexes differ somewhat in their *play-impulses. 1927W. E. Collinson Contemp. Eng. 127 The English play-impulse has certainly produced some remarkable forms.
1896W. James Will to Believe (1897) 23 Mephistophelian scepticism..will satisfy the head's *play-instincts much better than any vigorous idealism can. 1897T. Ribot Psychol. of Emotions ii. 198 The play-instinct, if we use this word to designate the tendency to expend superfluous activity..is a stock which puts forth several branches.
1899Westm. Gaz. 4 Sept. 2/1 Melodrama written by the most adroit *play-jobber of our times.
1672Lacy Dumb Lady Prol., Though such things pass on those that sermons hear, It will not do with *play-judgers, I fear.
1966New Statesman 24 June 923/3 There is a ‘*play lady’..who spends her whole time seeing to the personal interests and difficulties of the children in the wards. 1976Amer. Speech 1973 XLVIII. 208 At RT, he will meet play ladies, not to be confused with those in peds, but ones specially trained to teach physical activities.
1946Sun (Baltimore) 26 Apr. 11/4 Baltimore is to be tied into schedules into the *playland of Michigan, bringing PCA flights out of the local airport to fourteen daily. 1974Sat. Rev. World (U.S.) 2 Nov. 8/2 Cyprus..would be..a Mediterranean playland. 1977Time 4 July 28/2 Remembering the rapacious play⁓lands of the past, where gambling, boozing and whoring were as rife as popcorn and pizza, most theme parks promote soft drinks and fast foods.
1934O. Jespersen Language 149 Children..at first employ *play language for its own sake.
1907Westm. Gaz. 29 Aug. 3/1 A pressing need is for trained *play-leaders who know how to play games and to organise the interests of children in ways that build the body and character as well. 1953Play leader [see adventure playground s.v. adventure n. 10]. 1970Guardian 14 May 11/4 Two mothers volunteered to take a play-leaders' course. 1975New Society 18 Sept. 632/2 The Chells adventure playground, which is very large and has three full-time playleaders.
Ibid. 13 Nov. 393/2 (Advt.), The successful applicant will be required to give general assistance within the *Playleadership service. 1977Time Out 28 Jan.–3 Feb. 53/1 (Advt.), Applicants, male or female, should be able to demonstrate experience in these areas, preferably within playleadership.
1878*Play-line [see play-bird].
1962N.Z. Listener 27 July 39/1 Children like to take the special little packets [of raisins and sultanas] to school for their *playlunch. 1963E. Spence Green Laurel ix. 109 She was not hungry enough to go back for her play-lunch, and to stay close to the class-room appeared to be the safest thing to do. 1974Age (Melbourne) 12 Oct. 12/5 Play lunch, emergency rations for morning recess, usually being a piece of fruit, cake or some chocolate crackles.
1825Coleridge Aids Refl. (1848) I. 16 Draw lines of different colours round the different counties..and then cut out each separately, as in the common *play-maps that children take to pieces and put together.
1820Scott Abbot xiv, Here one fellow..performed the celebrated part of the hobby-horse, so often alluded to in our ancient drama. Note, This exhibition, the *play-mare of Scotland, stood high among holyday gambols.
1943H. Read Educ. through Art v. 158 For example, in analysing the quantitative differences in the kinds of *play-material used by children of age groups from 4 to 8, Dr. van Wylick found that..the use of human beings could not be related to the progressive age-groups. 1969E. Ambler Intercom Conspiracy (1970) ii. 39 ‘Play material’ was the jargon phrase used to describe the low-grade classified information fed back to the enemy through double agents. 1971D. O'Connor Eye of Eagle xxii. 154 There'll be stretches on this tape with nothing on them but a lengthy silence. You could fill them in, if you wanted, with play material.
1581Sidney Apol. Poetrie (Arb.) 67, I haue lauished out too many wordes of this *play matter.
1914H. C. Cook (title) First-fruits of the *play method in prose.
1961in Amer. Speech (1964) XXXIX. 79 *Playmobile. 1963Official Gaz. (U.S. Patent Off.) 21 May tm 148/1 DeLuxe Reading Corporation, Newark, N.J. Playmobile for toy miniature automobiles. First use Feb. 20, 1961. 1971Guardian 16 Dec. 11/1 A children's playgroup in a converted double-decker bus?.. The Playmobile will penetrate the drab streets of slumland. 1973Times 25 July 13/2, I feel we should also provide the opportunity for the community to have far greater involvement in concern for others. Involvement such as taking playmobiles round to all our caravan sites. 1979Trade Marks Jrnl. 4 July 1134/1 Playmobil... Toys having movable parts. Geobra Brandstätter GmbH & Co. K.G...Zirndorf..Germany; manufacturers and merchants.—17th March 1978.
1705Vanbrugh Confed. i. iii, *Play-money..amongst people of quality, is a sacred thing, and not to be profaned.
1593G. Harvey Pierce's Super. Wks. (Grosart) II. 132 A professed iester, a Hick-scorner, a scoff-maister, a *playmunger, an Interluder. 1885Manch. Exam. 9 Apr. 5/4 A miserable poverty of invention on the part of the playmonger.
1755C. Charke Life 103 Those Assailants of Liberty..constantly attended every *Play-Night there. 1786J. Woodforde Diary 6 Apr. (1926) II. 238 It being Play Night we went to the Theatre. 1849Theatrical Programme 2 July 43/1 His Majesty [sc. George II]..was pleased to order that the Guards should in future do duty every playnight, which custom has not yet been dispensed with. 1961D. De Camp in R. B. Le Page Creole Language Studies II. iv. 72 Plie-nait.
1937Sun (Baltimore) 12 Apr. 5/3 ‘The Second Hurricane’ is neither grand nor light opera, and somebody had to think up a name for it. This turned out to be ‘*play opera’. 1954Grove's Dict. Music (ed. 5) VIII. 125/2 The two other works of this period are the ballet-pantomime ‘Schlagobers’.., and the autobiographical play-opera ‘Intermezzo’, for which Strauss wrote his own libretto. 1971P. Young in J. Spencer Eng. Lang. W. Afr. 183 The dramatised version of The Palm Wine Drinkard was published in English originally, but performed as a play-opera in Yoruba at Ibadan.
1962Guardian 31 Oct. 6/5 The *playparks are a welcome addition to the other nursery facilities. 1964Ibid. 30 Oct. 6/6 The number of play parks where children can ‘let off steam’ is to be increased after the Greater London Council takes over next year. 1977Cork Examiner 6 June 1/8 In the past proceeds have gone to specific projects such as the building of a social room, gymnasium facilities, play park and equipment etc.
1879L. Troubridge Jrnl. June in J. Hope-Nicholson Life amongst Troubridges (1966) 152 Met Amy and had quite a gay visit to Abbey Lodge, doing lots of plays. Uncle Hay failed us for a *play party. 1902Dialect Notes II. 241 Play-party, a party at which old-fashioned games are played. 1912I. S. Cobb Back Home 44 Strict church members..wouldn't let their children..go to any parties except play parties. 1926M. D. Lake in J. F. Dobie Rainbow in Morning (1965) 109 Parties of various kinds were indulged in at Christmas... Dominoes, candy pulls, corn poppings, play-parties, and dancing furnished additional amusement. 1937B. A. Botkin Amer. Play-Party Song i. i. 16 The play-party..was a rural American social gathering for playing games, distinguished by the manner in which it was ‘got up’, by the age of its participants, and by the character of the games played. 1938[see caller n. 1 e]. 1968P. Oliver Screening Blues i. 31 It might be said..that the blues singer rejoices in his folk-songs—his dance songs, play-party and game songs, ballads and stomps. 1973Schafer & Riedel Art of Ragtime i. 13 This ‘play-party’ country ragtime style is of great age and hardiness.
1931Daily Express 21 Sept. 7/5 (Advt.), Well built *play-pens in best hard-wood. 1940J. Betjeman Old Lights for New Chancels 47 White o'er the play pen the sheen of her dress. 1967N. Freeling Strike Out 81 A child's playpen stood folded against the wall. 1972J. Wilson Hide & Seek ii. 35 Jean picked Jamie out of the playpen and sat with him on her lap. 1976W. H. Canaway Willow-Pattern War xiii. 136 A set of beads on wires, a bit similar to the set I'd had on my play-pen when I'd been smaller.
1781Cowper Charity 538 Perhaps the man..had no other *play-place for his wit. 1884J. Colborne Hicks Pasha 188 The river and its banks are the play-place of the crocodile.
1625Bacon Ess., Envy (Arb.) 512 It must needs be, that he taketh a kinde of *plaie-pleasure, in looking vpon the Fortunes of others.
1907Daily Chron. 17 May 3/7 A soulful little French *play-poem, Coppée's ‘Le Passant’. 1928V. Woolf Writer's Diary 7 Nov. (1953) 137 Yes, but The Moths? That was to be an abstract mystical eyeless book: a playpoem. 1977Times Lit. Suppl. 4 Feb. 123/1 Virginia Woolf described The Waves as a ‘playpoem’. She was conscious of the hazards of poetic fiction, the dangers of uncontrolled fantasy, and wanted to minimize these by assimilating to prose fiction the structural tightness and compression of drama.
1633Prynne Histriomastix (title-p.), Wherein it is..evidenced..that the profession of *Play-poets, of Stage Players; together with the penning, acting, and frequenting of Stage-playes, are unlawfull, infamous and misbeseeming Christians.
1905Dialect Notes III. 90 The children want some *play-pretties for Christmas. 1929W. Faulkner Sound & Fury 36 Aint you shamed of yourself. Taking a baby's play pretty. 1935R. Bass in A. Dundes Mother Wit (1973) 395 On the graves of little children are placed some play-pretties, little doll heads, small cups, or toy animals. 1942J. Thomas Blue Ridge Country 160 The children's play-pretties—the poppet, a make-believe corn-shuck doll. 1976Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. 1973 lx. 17 One..called it [sc. a toy] a pretty, another a play-pretty.
1913Writer's Mag. Dec. 253/1 For we are now in an era wherein the *play-producer is on the alert for the young and virile writer.
1908Daily Chron. 19 May 1/6 Several uncommercial *play-producing societies..had done..good work recently. 1968Daily Tel. 4 Nov. 9/5 And so we come back to the independent, unsubsidised play-producing companies.
1711Shaftesbury Charact. (1737) III. 289 To do justice to our *play readers, they seldom fail to humour our poets in this respect. 1922Play-reader [see doctor n. 6 c]. 1969L. Hellman Unfinished Woman v. 53, I worked as a play reader for Anne Nichols,..who wanted to become a producer.
1913F. H. Burnett T. Tembarom xix. 244 On still another evening they tried Shakespeare. He found *play-reading difficult and Shakespearian language baffling. 1935N. Mitchison We have been Warned ii. 154 The next pupil was late... ‘Sorry,’ he said, ‘it was the play-reading society.’ 1968J. Haythorne None of us cared for Kate 61 We do try in our small way to keep the torch of culture flickering. Are you fond of play-reading? 1972D. H. Laurence Bernard Shaw: Coll. Lett. 1898–1910 4 [Shaw]..joined Grant Allen and other neighbours in a play-reading society.
1891Martineau in Law Times XC. 250/1 A musical composition, the copyright and *play⁓right of which had expired by effluxion of time.
1696Pol. Ballads (1860) II. 55 For converts and bullys, And *play-ruin'd cullys.
1970Daily Progress (Charlottesville, Va.) 21 Mar. c2/5 If the age group is 4 to 10,..*playsacks..are imaginative animal costumes that slip on easily. 1972Where Apr. 104/2 There were in fact something over 400 playschemes in England and Wales last summer. 1975Village Winter 83 You would have been looking at Cumbria's first mobile playscheme.
1935Sun (Baltimore) 15 July 7/3 Three children's ‘*play schools’ scheduled here were canceled. 1959C. V. Good Dict. Educ. (ed. 2) 402/2 Play school,..an organized experience usually lasting for a short time to provide opportunities for high school and college students to observe and work with a small group of young children in a supervised situation. 1964S. Bellow Herzog 267 I'm picking June up at noon tomorrow. She goes to a play school, half-days. 1973Times 7 Mar. 10/3 Whoever coined the term ‘play school’ captured perfectly the ideal concept for the young child. 1977D. MacKenzie Raven & Kamikaze iv. 49 The babble of children came from the open windows of the play school.
1713Addison Guard. No. 120 ⁋3 The day lies heavy upon her until the *play-season returns.
1637J. Rutter Cid To Rdr. (1650) 4 This age consists of such *Play-seers.
1906Macmillan's Mag. Nov. 19 Rooms for the teachers and for the permanent staff, a covered *play-shed, and all the outside accessories. 1932Times Educ. Suppl. 20 Aug. 318/1 Playsheds can as a rule be omitted, but inexpensive bicycle sheds may be advisable and serve as shelters for the children against rainstorms.
1898J. C. Harris Tales of Home Folks in Peace & War 19 The negroes made the night melodious with their *play-songs. 1924G. Parkes in M. W. Beckwith Jamaica Anansi Stories 110 Massah, me kyan' stop him singing, because it mus' of been his little play-song what he have singing. 1959I. & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolch. i. 3 The same continuity obtains in their games and play songs.
1958Times 30 Aug. 7/4 The whole of the underside of the tall block is planned as a covered paved *play space. 1959[see bed-sitting-room]. 1974Listener 7 Mar. 296/3 Families..live around courtyards, half of which serve..as play-spaces for children. 1976Ilkeston Advertiser 10 Dec. 10/3 The parents..told Broxtowe District Council about the lack of play space for children on Broad Oak Drive estate.
1845S. Judd Margaret ii. i. 186 And her own *play-spell comes, if, indeed, her whole life were not a play-spell. 1861L. L. Noble Icebergs 295 Allowed a play-spell, perhaps a long yellow holdiay.
1878*Play-stick [see play-bird].
1858Lytton What will he do i. iii, He contrived to cut up that *play-story.
1937C. V. Godfrey Roadsense for Children viii. 64 Closing certain lesser thoroughfares to vehicular traffic and reserving them for the exclusive use of children..is how *Play Streets came into being. 1968Guardian 25 Apr. 7/6 Some local authorities label streets as play streets when they have not enough money for playgrounds. 1977Wandsworth Borough News 7 Oct. 14/5 It was a ‘playstreet’ with bollards to prevent all traffic, where children could safely play under the eyes of their parents.
1609Dekker Guls Horne-Booke vi. 29 By sitting on the stage, you may..examine the *play-suits lace. 1908Sears, Roebuck Catal. 529/1 Play Suits. 1936New Yorker 7 Mar. 64/1 Crisp, wearable and washable shirt-waist dresses, play suits, shorts, slacks, and skirts. 1942Capital 3 Feb. 5/6 (caption) Ilyana Yankwich wearing a California-made playsuit; it's in vivid green and brown tones with a gay leaf motif. 1959New Statesman 26 Sept. 384/2 Unguents, oils, special sun-bathing attire, bikinis and play-suits..have become big business. 1963Playsuit [see Garbo1].
1848Thackeray Van. Fair lxv, The day after the meeting at the *play-table. 1905Macm. Mag. Dec. 102 The enormous extent of Fox's transactions at the play-tables is of course recorded.
1925I. A. Richards Princ. Lit. Crit. 233 The objection to the *Play Theory..lies in its suggestion that the experiences of Art are in some way incomplete, that they are substitutes. 1960C. Winick Dict. Anthropol. 535/2 Play theory, the theory that fine art is produced independently of the struggle for existence and that the imagination is exercised for the sake of the sense of freedom (Schiller), or power (Groos), or for conscious self-deception (Lange).
1942Brit. Jrnl. Psychol. Jan. 262 A direct interpretation given to the child of the meaning of his play should be undertaken only..by the experienced *play therapist. 1963A. Heron Towards Quaker View of Sex 49 The child may have treatment with a play therapist.
1939Psychol. Abstr. XIII. 111/1 The author believes that active *play therapy offers rapid diagnostic and therapeutic assistance in the emotional problems of childhood. 1948L. Kanner Child Psychiatry (ed. 2) xvii. 244 ‘Play therapy’ thus becomes a form of participation, a means to an end, rather than an isolated technique. 1961A. Huxley Let. 8 Jan. (1969) 903 One can imagine a genuinely realistic treatment of the mentally ill..by work and play therapy. 1978M. T. Erickson Child Psychopathol. x. 225 Traditional clinicians have offered an array of treatments to children with learning disabilities: psychoanalysis,..play therapy, and group therapy.
1935Z. N. Hurston Mules & Men 19 I'll put this *play toy in his hand, and he will seize it and go away. Then I'll say my say and sing my song.
1914H. C. Cook First-Fruits of Play Method 52 The boys do not object to learning anything, so long as they may do it in the *Play way. 1920T. P. Nunn Education viii. 92 Members of a rapidly growing company of pioneers..are all busily engaged in exploring the ‘play-way’ of teaching the several subjects of the curriculum. 1973Times 13 Jan. 12/3 Nephew X, proud of himself for being tough with his daughter over the cello lessons, dismisses all this ‘play-way’ approach to education as a lot of soft nonsense.
1832[R. Cattermole] Beckett, etc. 191 Sunk to rest Like a *play-wearied child.
1956A. Sampson Drum xv. 205 Harry was only one of thousands of ‘*play-whites’, as they call the light-skinned Coloureds who ‘pass for white’ and break away from the Coloured world.
1909Daily Chron. 13 Dec. 3/4 Nature's kingdom is not all a reign of tooth and claw, but a *play-world also. 1915D. H. Lawrence Rainbow xi. 264 The religion, which had been another world for her, a glorious sort of play-world. 1962W. Nowottny Lang. Poets Use iv. 89 This realization is articulated most clearly at the climax of the passage..and so too is the sense of the irruption into his play-world of intractable segments of reality. 1978I. B. Singer Shosha vii. 135 There is no reason why hedonism, the cabala, polygamy, asceticism, even our friend Haiml's blend of eroticism and Hasidism could not exist in a play-city or play-world.
1901Chambers's Jrnl. Aug. 545/2 Organised *play-wreckers, who without uttering a word or an unseemly laugh have succeeded in destroying whatever chance of success a play may have had.
1949Sat. Rev. Lit. (U.S.) 24 Dec. 24/3 One of the unique and beckoning characteristics of his plays was that they were written no less than *playwritten.
1644Milton Educ. Wks. (1847) 101/1 This would make them..perceive what despicable creatures our common rhimers and *playwriters be. 1766Fordyce Serm. Yng. Wom. (1767) I. iv. 155 The common herd of Play-writers. 1872W. L. Collins Aristophanes iii. 41 To win the verdict of popular applause, which was the great aim of an Athenian play-writer, he must above all things hit the popular taste. 1903W. B. Yeats Let. 27 July (1954) 408, I suppose every playwriter finds out the methods that suit him best.
1809Malkin Gil Blas vii. xiii. ⁋9 [He] exercised his genius at one time in sonnets or ballads, at another in *play-writing. 1898G. B. Shaw Plays Unpleasant Pref. p. v, I made a rough memorandum for my own guidance that unless I could produce at least half a dozen plays before I was forty, I had better let playwriting alone. 1935Discovery May 130/2 Historical playwriting has had considerable vogue. 1959Times 24 Oct. 9/2 Pursue the Dry Stubble, the winning entry in the playwriting competition organized by the Tower Theatre, was given the first of six performances there last night. 1976Radio Times 27 Mar.–2 Apr. 37/1 Sir Terence Rattigan looks back over 40 years of playwriting from French without Tears to Cause Celèbre.
1960J. J. Rowlands Spindrift iii. 186 One particularly important question was whether the *play-yard in Heaven was equipped with an old dory with a mast and sail. 1973Jrnl. Genetic Psychol. Sept. 160 Assertive behavior is a relatively stable characteristic of the preschool child, a characteristic which he brings to many situations and which can be seen even in 15 minutes in the play yard.
Add:[II.] [10.] h. Comm. (esp. Oil Industry). An investment or development opportunity; a commercial venture the success of which depends upon speculation. orig. U.S.
1957Time 15 July 83/1 The discovery touched off Canada's biggest oil play since the great Leduc and Pembina oilfields were tapped in 1947 and 1953. 1975North Sea Background Notes (Brit. Petroleum Co.) 4 By 1973 it had been shown that three major ‘plays’ persist. The first is exemplified by BP's Forties Field, where oil is found in Lower Tertiary sandstones. 1977R. E. Megill Introd. Risk Analysis viii. 90 The first well could be a discovery and thus finance the whole play. 1988Observer 15 Jan. 20/1 Charterhall, the investment company..has sold two of its North Sea ‘plays’ for {pstlg}12.25 million.
▪ II. play, v.|pleɪ|
Forms: α. 1 pleᵹ(i)an, (pleoᵹ-), Angl. plæᵹian; 2–5 pleie, 3 plaiȝen, plæie, 3–5 pleiȝe, pleyȝe, 3–6 pley(e, 4–7 plai(e, playe, 4– play, (6 plee). β. 1 Angl. plaᵹian, pleaᵹ(i)an, 3 plaȝe, 4–6 plaw(e, 6 Sc. pla, 7–9 dial. plaw. γ. 2–3 ploȝe(n, 3 pleoȝe, pleowe, pleuwe. pa. tense and pple. played: pa. tense 1 pleᵹode, -ede, -ade, pleoᵹede; plaᵹade, pleaᵹade; plæᵹde, plæᵹede. pa. tense and pa. pple. often contracted; pa. tense 3–5 pleide, 4–5 pleyde, Sc. plait, 4–8 plaid, 6 playd, pled, Sc. plade, 7 plaide; pa. pple. 4 pleide, 6–7 playd, 6–8 plaid.
[OE. pleᵹan, -ean, -ian, plaᵹian, plæᵹian, corresp. to MDu. pleyen, pleien, playen to dance, leap for joy, rejoice, be glad (Verwijs and Verdam). As to its relation to OS. plegan, Du. plegen, Ger. pflegen ‘to have the care of, take charge of, attend to, cultivate’, ‘to be in the habit of, to be wont or accustomed to’, see below. The OE. verb is recorded in several diverging forms, so that it is difficult to determine its original type and the conjugation to which it belonged. The usual WSax. form pleᵹian gave ME. pleie(n, later plaie(n, play; the OE. plaᵹian in Anglian texts gave the northern plawe, plaw. The γ forms in 2–3 pleoȝe, ploȝe, pleowe, pleuwe appear to mix the two.
The primary senses under each of the following branches were already in OE., and the order of their development is more or less inferential; but all the uses of ‘play’ are seen to arise naturally from a primary notion ‘to exercise, bestir, or busily occupy oneself’, the line of development having been here determined by the recreative or divertive purpose of the exercise. In the miners' ‘play’, the sense of exercise or busy occupation disappears, and the word (sense 15; cf. play n. 13) comes to mean ‘to cease work, to be idle’. The same primary notion, developed in quite a different line, accounts for the continental senses of plegen, pflegen, ‘to have care of, take kindly charge of, cultivate’, and ‘to be in the practice or habit of’, notions which evidently imply occupying oneself busily about a thing or person, and habitually exercising oneself in an action.]
I. To exercise oneself, act or move energetically; actuate, exercise (a craft, etc.).
†1.
a. intr. To exercise or occupy oneself, bestir one's self, be busily engaged; to act, operate, work. Obs. exc. with allusion to other senses.
c960Laws Edgar c. 64 (Thorpe Laws II. 258) We læraþ ðæt preost ne beo hunta ne hafecere ne tæflere ac pleᵹe on his bocum. 971Blickl. Hom. 85 Þis is se ilca þe þu longe for his deaþe pleᵹodest. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. iii. 307 Eche man to pleye with a plow pykoys or spade. 1481Caxton Myrr. ii. xxiv. 116 [The air] susteyneth the byrdes fleeyng that so playe with their wynges and meue them so moche al aboute therin that they disporte them..therin. 1484― Fables of æsop v. v, Now shalle we see who shalle playe best for to preserue and saue hym self. 1581Savile Tacitus, Agricola (1622) 194 Agricola hauing vnderstood by spies what way the enemies had taken..commandeth the lightest horsemen and footmen to play on their backes and maintaine the skirmish. a1586Sidney Ps. xlii. i, So my soul in panting playeth, Thirsting on my God to look. 1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. i. x. (1686) 28 There is an invisible Agent,..who plays in the dark upon us. 1677Temple Wks. (1731) II. 453 Thus I believe that Affair plays at present. 1883Romanes Ment. Evol. Anim. iii. 34 There is no doubt that the hemispheres are able to ‘play down’ upon these ganglia as upon so many mechanisms.
†b. To clap with the hands; also trans. to clap (the hands). Obs.
c825Vesp. Psalter xlvi. 2 Alle ðiode plaᵹiað mid hondum [omnes gentes plaudite manibus]. Ibid. xcvii. 8 Flodas plæᵹiað mid hondum [flumina plaudent manibus]. a1000Elene 806 (Gr.) He mid bæm handum eadiᵹ and ægleaw upweard pleᵹade. a1300E.E. Psalter xcvii[i]. 8 Stremes sal plaie handes, samen. a1325Prose Psalter xlvi[i]. 1 Ȝe alle folk, plaieþ wyþ hondes; gladeþ to God in voice of ioie. a1340Hampole Psalter xlvi. 1 All genge playes with hend.
c. To strut, dance, or otherwise display itself, as a cock bird before the hens. Also play up.
1765Treat. Dom. Pigeons 4 Cocks will often play to, and disturb the others as they sit. Ibid., Allowing eighteen inches between shelf and shelf, that powters may not be under the necessity of stooping for want of height, for in that case they would contract an habit of playing low, which spoils their carriage. 1768G. White Selborne xvi. (1853) 68 In breeding time the snipes play over the moors, piping and humming. 1892Cornh. Mag. July 37, I have put black⁓cock up here many years ago, one of my woodland friends having invited me over to see them play up.
2. a. intr. Of living beings: To move about swiftly, with a lively, irregular, or capricious motion; to spring, fly, or dart to and fro; to gambol, frisk; to flit, flutter.
a900Andreas 370 (Gr.) Hornfisc pleᵹode, glæd ᵹeond garsecg. a1000Cædmon's Gen. 724 (Gr.) Swa hit him on innan com, hran æt heortan, hloh þa & pleᵹode bode bitre ᵹehuᵹod. c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 127 Þat child on his blisse witeȝede; for hit floxede, and pleide to-ȝenes hire. a1225Ancr. R. 94 Auh ancren..schulen..lihture beon & swifture & ine so wide scheakeles pleien ine heouene. c1275Lay. 26941 And hit gan to daȝeȝe And þe deor to pleoye. a1300Cursor M. 23342 On sunni dai To se fixs in a water plai. a1310in Wright Lyric P. xiv. 45 In May hit murȝeth when hit dawes, In dounes with this dueres plawes. 1611Bible Job xl. 20 Surely the mountaines bring him foorth foode: where all the beasts of the field play. 1667Milton P.L. vii. 410 On smooth the Seale And bended Dolphins play. 1767G. White Selborne 9 Sept. (1853) 29 Bats drink on the wing..by sipping the surface, as they play over pools and streams. 1869Thirlwall Lett. (1881) II. 209 He played about them like a bee, only to take in honey for his art-cell.
b. trans. To get or bring into something by playing or fluttering.
1657tr. De Imitatione p. ix, Larkes..play themselves into the Fowlers net.
3. a. intr. Of things: To move briskly or lightly, especially with alternating or irregular motion, as lightning, flame, leaves in the wind, etc.; to change or alternate rapidly, as colours in iridescence or prismatic refraction; to pass gently around, or strike lightly upon, something, as waves, wind, light, etc.; to dance, flutter, flicker, glitter, ripple, vibrate, sway lightly, etc. Also fig.
1590Spenser F.Q. i. i. 34 Thereby a christall streame did gently play, Which from a sacred fountaine welled forth alway. 1591Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, v. iii. 62 As playes the Sunne vpon the glassie streames, Twinkling another counterfetted beame. 1638Junius Paint. Ancients 18 The inward Imaginations that doe continually stirre and play in our mindes. 1664Power Exp. Philos. Pref. c j, The Magnetical Atoms continually playing about them. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 432 When Western Winds on curling Waters play. 1726G. Shelvocke Voy. round World 418 You'll see in the night a sort of faint light'ning, flashing and playing..in that part of the Horizon. 1797Mrs. Radcliffe Italian i, Her fine hair was negligently bound up in a silk net, and some tresses that had escaped it played on her neck. 1827Willis Healing Daughter Jairus 33 The breaking waves play'd low upon the beach. 1847Emerson Repr. Men, Shaks. Wks. (Bohn) I. 364 Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Chaucer, saw the splendour of meaning that plays over the visible world. 1851Mayne Reid Scalp Hunt. xlii, The tempest still played around us. 1859Tennyson Geraint & Enid 1537 A splendid silk..Where like a shoaling sea the lovely blue Play'd into green. 1869Hughes Alfred Gt. xxiii. 296 Alfred allows his fancy to play round the idea. 1871H. Ainsworth Tower Hill i. v, No smile ever played upon her thin lips.
b. transf. To exhibit a play of light or colour.
1698Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 214 A Rose Diamond that is very thick, it's good to set it close upon the Ivory, and it will play very well.
c. To keep moving to and fro. rare.
1513Sir E. Howard in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. I. 217 Barges..to play up and down betwen Dover & Caleys. 1716B. Church Hist. Philip's War (1865) I. 79 The other Canoo play'd off to see the event, and to carry tydings if the Indians should prove false.
4. a. intr. To bubble and roll about as a boiling liquid; to boil. Obs. exc. dial.
(In this sense plaw is frequent dialectally, even where play is used in other senses.)
a1400Sir Beues (MS. E) 3455 Þoo hit dede seþe and playde ffaste. c1400Sloane MS. 3548 lf. 16 b, Put it ynne a cowdrun ful of water, and layt yt play longe þerin. 1513Douglas æneis vi. iii. 120 Sum spedis to graith haite wattir besely In caldrouns playing on the fire fast by. 1721Kelly Sc. Prov. 106 Fair words will not make the Pot play. 1813Picken Now-a-days Misc. Poems I. 124 Their walth..Will ne'er gar Simon's pat play brown.
βc1440Promp. Parv. 403/2 Plawyn, as pottys, bullio, ferveo. a1450Stockh. Med. MS. i. 56 in Anglia XVIII. 296 Take a porcioun of whete-bren, And as it plawyth, cast þer in. c1460Play Sacram. 664 In to the Cawdron I wylle yt Cast, I shalle..putt yt down that yt myght plawe. 1674Ray S. & E.C. Words 74 To Play, spoken of a pot, kettle or other vessel full of liquor, i.e. to boil... In Norfolk they pronounce it plaw.
b. trans. To cause to boil; to boil. Now dial.
αc1420Liber Cocorum (1862) 42 Fyrst play þy water with hony and salt. 14..Noble Bk. Cookry (1882) 100 Sett it down and play it up with cow mylk till yt be enoughe. 1533Test. Ebor. (Surtees) VI. 42 A lesser lede to play growte in.
βa1450Stockh. Med. MS. i. 54 in Anglia XVIII. 296 Tak and plaw it ouer þe fyir. a1825Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Plaw, to parboil.
5. intr. To move, revolve, or oscillate freely (usually within a definite space); to have its proper unimpeded movement, as a part of any mechanism, or of the living body; to have free play.
1595Shakes. John iii. iv. 132 Warme life playes in that infants veines. 1614B. Jonson Bart. Fair ii. ii, You should get this chayre let out o' the sides, for me, that my hips might play. 1627Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. ii. 12 The Tiller playeth in the Gunroome. 1664Power Exp. Philos. i. 24 You may see their heart play, and beat very orderly for a long time together. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. vii. x. 16 [Hold] the Instrument..Horizontally as neer as you can, that the Needle may have liberty to play to and fro. 1715Desaguliers Fires Impr. 130 Two Iron Eyes for the ends of Axis to play in. 1741Monro Anat. Bones (ed. 3) 151 The Condyles..play in the Cavity. 1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 670 The engines..have a cogged wheel, playing in a rack, which is laid as one of the rails of the road. 1881All Year Round XXVII. 294 The molars..play vertically on each other like a pair of scissors. 1888Bryce Amer. Commw. II. xliv. 145 To inquire how the organs of government which have been described play into one another in practice.
6. trans. To cause to play; to ply.
a. To wield (something) lightly and freely; to keep in motion or exercise; to actuate, operate, work (any instrument). to play (a good) knife and fork, to eat (well or heartily): see knife and fork 1; so to play a good stick, to fence well.
1589R. Harvey Pl. Perc. (1590) 3 Thy late Customers, which play more sacks to the mill, haue brought greists or iests at least wise to be ground. 1713Steele Guard. No. 50 ⁋2 The dexterity..consists in playing the razor, with a nimble wrist, mighty near the nose without touching it. 1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v. Organ, One of these hydraulic organs; with two men..seeming to pump the water which plays it. 1748Smollett Rod. Rand. (1812) I. 47 You hear he plays a good [fiddle-]stick. 1788J. May Jrnl. & Lett. (1873) 88 Five hands at work... Two playing the whipsaw. a1800in Daily News 11 July (1892) 2/5 If..he is a tolerable good boxer, can play a good stick. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair xliii, The Colonel plays a good knife and fork at tiffin. 1885Illustr. Lond. News 28 Nov. 548/1 The dining-hall..where the occupants..played ‘knife and fork’.
†b. To deal with; to treat. Obs.
1491Caxton Vitas Patr. (W. de W. 1495) i. cxii. 153 b/1, I haue done many offences to my god, the whyche he playeth mekely, in yeuynge vnto me example. 1584Lodge Alarum agst. Usurers 12 The vsurer that playes all this rie, will yet be counted an honest and well dealing man. 1597J. King On Jonas (1618) 619 It is a great mastery, saith Seneca, to play a man kindely.
c. To discharge, fire, let off (artillery, etc. (on or upon persons or things), also fireworks); to cause (a fountain or the like) to play. Also fig. In quot. 1881, to fire upon (an enemy).
1595Shakes. John ii. i. 385 Their battering Canon charged to the mouthes... I'de play incessantly vpon these Iades. 1670Cotton Espernon i. iv. 156 [He] plai'd so many Cannon⁓shot into the Town, that not a man durst appear. 1682Bunyan Holy War xii, The gate from the top of which the captains did play their slings at the enemies. 1712J. James tr. Le Blond's Gardening 197 To play a Spout still bigger,..there must be a large Pipe. 1713Addison Guard. No. 152 ⁋6 She played upon him so many smiles and glances, that she quite weakened and disarmed him. 1721G. Roussillon tr. Vertot's Rev. Portug. 83 There should be fireworks ready to be play'd off. 1759Chron. in Ann. Reg. 62/2 Playing their hand-grenades and swivels to excellent purpose. 1790Laws of Harvard Coll. 25 If any Scholar..shall make bonfires..or play off fireworks. 1799G. Smith Laboratory I. 25 Avoid..a damp, foggy, rainy or windy night, to play your rockets. 1804Nicholl in Owen Wellesley's Desp. (1877) 530 They opened a battery, which they continued playing until 3 o'clock. 1881Clark Russell Ocean Free Lance I. iv. 154 We kept playing the enemy with round-shot.
†d. To toss off, to finish (liquor). Obs. slang.
1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, ii. iv. 18 When you breath in your watering, then they cry hem, and bid you play it off. 1607Dekker Iests to make Merie Wks. (Grosart) II. 350 He requested them to play off the sacke and begon.
e. Angling. To give play to (a fish); to allow (it) to exhaust itself by pulling against the line. Also fig.
1741Richardson Pamela (1824) I. 69, I..soon hooked a lovely carp. Play it, play it, said she: I did, and brought it to the bank. 1787Best Angling (ed. 2) 40 He seldom breaks his hold, if your tackle is strong and you play him properly. 1856Kane Arct. Expl. I. xxx. 414 The victim..is played like a trout by the angler's reel. 1895Pall Mall Mag. Nov. 367 But where would be the sport of playing the fish? 1900Mrs. H. Ward Eleanor 97 Eleanor had played her with much tact, and now had her in her power.
f. To cause to move or pass lightly, flutter, glitter, etc. (see 3); to exhibit with brilliant effect; to draw lightly upon a surface.
a1716South Serm. (1744) X. 357 When the allurement of any sinful pleasure or profit plays itself before him. 1742Young Nt. Th. v. 903 Tho' Fortune too (our third and final Theme), As an Accomplice, play'd her gaudy Plumes. 1746–7Hervey Medit. (1818) 127 She plays her lovely changes, not to enkindle dissolute affections, but to display her Creator's glory. 1812R. H. in Examiner 25 May 329/1 The lines are played over the forms with..freedom and taste. 1843E. Jones Sens. & Event 54 Should prudes blame my dress, oh! all beautiful braid, Yellow, crimson, and green over it shall be play'd. 1892Electr. Engineer 16 Sept. 285/2 The search-light began to play a dazzling ripple along their line from end to end.
7. a. intr. To operate artillery, to fire (on or upon persons or things); also said of the artillery, or of a mine, etc.: To be discharged or fired.
1601R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. (1603) 56 They never cease playing with their Ordinance, till they have laide all levell with the ground. a1627Hayward Four Y. Eliz. (Camden) 55 The artillerie plaied and the footemen skirmished most part of the daie. 1628Digby Voy. Medit. (1868) 23 All this while the fortes played vpon the boates and our shippes. 1633Stafford Pac. Hib. i. ix. (1810) 116 When wee looked that the Cannon should begin to play. a1649Drummond of Hawthornden Idea Wks. (1711) 221 The mine going straight, there lacked nothing but some match to make it play. 1709Steele Tatler No. 53 ⁋11 The Cannon on each Side began to play. 1748in G. Sheldon Hist. Deerfield, Mass. (1895) I. 564, I played away with our cannon and small arms for an hour and {threeon4}. 1777Watson Philip II (1839) 515 His cannon had hardly begun to play upon it, when Vidossan, the governor, retired with the garrison into the castle. 1894Ld. Wolseley Life Marlborough II. 181 Another battery..which Marlborough erected to play upon the south-eastern bastion.
fig.1709Hearne Collect. 11 Nov. (O.H.S.) II. 306 He..playd particularly [in his sermon]..upon the Bp. of Sarum.
b. Of a firework: To be fired, to go off (fig. in quot.).
1762Goldsm. Cit. W. li, Yet it [a farce] played off, and bounced, and cracked, and made more sport than a firework.
8. intr. Of a fire-engine, fountain, etc.: To emit a jet of water, to spout. Also said of the water, or of the person, e.g. of a fireman.
1666Boyle in Phil. Trans. I. 233 The Cock would play altogether on that side. 1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 9 A great many Fountains, where the Water-works, playing very high, render the place altogether delightful. 1711Addison Spect. No. 5 ⁋3 There are several Engines filled with Water, and ready to play at a Minute's warning. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xii. III. 166 The fountains played in his honour. 1860Dickens Uncomm. Trav. iv, The fire-engine maker..having brought out the whole of his stock to play upon its last smouldering ashes. 1889Century Mag. Apr. 929 The firemen were not permitted to play on the flames.
9. a. trans. To practise, perform, do (some action); † to ply, exercise (a craft) (obs.); to perform, execute (a movement); usually (influenced by II), to perform or practise in the way of sport, deceit, etc. (a trick, prank, joke, etc.: const. on, upon, or with simple dative). In mod. use also with off (? expressing complete or successful action: see off A. 5).
c1391Chaucer Astrol. ii. §40 Yif thow wolt pleie this craft with the arisyng of the Mone, loke thow rekne wel her cours howre by howre. c1400Gamelyn 307 Whan Gamelyn the yonge thus hadde pleyd his play. c1425Cursor M. 16623 (Trin.) And siþen in his honde þei sett: a muchel greet rede And to him pleiden a bobet. 1562Jack Juggler in Hazl. Dodsley II. 138, I know that he playeth you many a like prank. 1603Shakes. Meas. for M. ii. ii. 121 Man..Plaies such phantastique tricks before high heauen, As makes the Angels weepe. 1660F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 17 For fear he should play me some trick, I dissembled. 1782Cowper Gilpin 134 Thus all through merry Islington These gambols he did play. 1815W. H. Ireland Scribbleomania 190 note, The hoax played off some years back, by the late commentator Steevens. 1890W. A. Wallace Only a Sister 201 Only something very important would have made you play this game.
b. Sc. colloq.
1826J. Wilson Noct. Ambr. Wks. 1855 I. 134 See ane [tiger] play spang upon you..and gar ye play tapsalteerie ower a precipice.
II. To exercise oneself in the way of diversion or amusement.
10. a. intr. To employ or exercise oneself in the way of amusement or recreation; to amuse or divert oneself; to sport, frolic. (Formerly in wider sense than now, including any kind of recreation, e.g. dancing.)
c897K. ælfred Gregory's Past. C. I. 391 We..wiernað urum cildum urra peninga mid to pleᵹianne. c950Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. xi. 17 We sungun iuh & ne plæᵹde ᵹe. c1175Lamb. Hom. 7 Þa children ploȝeden in þere strete heriende ure drihten. a1300Cursor M. 12275 Iesus went him for [v.r. forth] to plai Wit childir on an halidai. c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 3845 Elydour þorow a wode schold wende, ffor to pleye by o ryuer. c1386Chaucer Frankl. T. 169 Hire freendes..schopen for to pleyen somwher elles. c1491Chast Goddes Chyld. 14 A louynge moder listeth to play with her souking childe. 1576E. de Vere Fayre Fooles Poems (Grosart) 72 To playe with fooles, oh, what a foole was I. 1632Milton L'Allegro 97 And young and old com forth to play On a Sunshine Holyday. 1742Gray Eton 52 Regardless of their doom The little victims play! 1840J. H. Newman Par. Serm. (1842) V. iii. 35 To make professions is to play with edge tools. 1856Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) I. ii. 151 The gardens of the Alhambra, where she had played as a child.
†b. To enjoy oneself, be joyful or merry, rejoice; esp. in reference to the bliss of heaven. Obs.
c1230Hali Meid. 41 Ah schulen ai bifore þe pleien in heuene. a1272Luue Ron 133 in O.E. Misc. 97 Alle heo schule wyþ engles pleye some and sauhte in heouene lyhte. c1374Chaucer Anel. & Arc. 321 For nowe I pleyn and now I playe. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xvi. 256, I loked on his lappe, a lazar lay þere-inne Among patriarkes and profetes pleyande togyderes.
c. To sport amorously; euphem. to have sexual intercourse. Cf. play n. 6 c. Now rare or Obs.
a1000Riddles xliii. 2 (Gr.) Ic seah wyhte wrætlice twa undearnunga ute pleᵹan hæmedlaces. c1250Gen. & Ex. 2016 His wif..One and stille ðoȝt hire gamen Wið ioseph speken and plaiȝen samen. c1320Sir Tristr. 2617 Tristrem wiþ Ysoude lay..And wok And plaiden ay bitvene. 1375Barbour Bruce v. 542 Throu vomen that he vald with play. 1483Caxton G. de la Tour F j, Which for a lytel syluer made her to synne and playe with a pryour. 1592Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 124 Be bold to play, our sport is not in sight. 1667Milton P.L. ix. 1027 Now let us play..For never did thy Beautie..so enflame my sense With ardor to enjoy thee.
d. to play around: to amuse oneself; to behave in a playful or irresponsible manner; spec. to have a sexual relationship with (a person or persons of the opposite sex), esp. casually or extra-maritally. colloq. (orig. U.S.).
1929D. Hammett Red Harvest xi. 109 Max was up there with a girl he used to play around with. 1932G. Greene Stamboul Train iv. iv. 248 You mean you killed him..just because he'd played around with your daughter? 1934J. O'Hara Appointment in Samarra ii. 46 He played around a little, but Al knew Helene was the only one he really cared for, and Helene really cared for him. 1960Sunday Express 14 Aug. 14/6, I went to all the parties; I played around. 1963D. Gray Murder in Mind xv. 83 And if I found you were playing around, I'd give you a damned good hiding. 1973S. Dobyns Man of Little Evils (1974) iii. 31 Ralph played around with other women but he liked one.
†11.
a. refl. To amuse or disport oneself: = 10.
c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 349/148 Þat þis child scholde wende an hontingue, to pleiȝen him. a1300Cursor M. 3025 Þir breþer þam plaijd samen. c1386Chaucer Melib. ⁋2 He for his desport is went into the feeldes hym to pleye. c1430Pilgr. Lyf Manhode iv. ix. (1869) 181 A crooked staf me lakketh..and a bal to pleye me with. c1440York Myst. xvii. 212 Go we..To playe vs in som othir place. c1530Ld. Berners Arth. Lyt. Bryt. (1814) 37 Arthur..humbly requyred both hys fader and moder..to giue hym licence to go play hym a season out of that countrey. 1646E. F[isher] Marrow Mod. Divin. (ed. 2) 171 We may go play us then, and work no working at all. 1651Baxter Inf. Bapt. 182 When you have plaid your self with your own absurd fictions.
†b. trans. To furnish with the means of playing; to amuse. Obs. rare.
1570Durham Depos. (Surtees) 192 Some of the leves of the said bookes the said wyffes toke away with them, to play their children withall.
c. To bring into some condition, etc. by playing or sport.
1642Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iv. xix. 337 He playeth himself into Learning before he is aware of it.
12. intr. play with: To amuse oneself with, sport with; to touch or finger lightly, or move slightly with the hand (a material object) by way of frivolous amusement; to treat (anything) lightly or frivolously; to dally, trifle, or toy with. In quot. 1827, to do what one will with, to manage according to one's pleasure. (See also 13 b, 14.) to play with fire: see fire n. A. 3 g.
c1200Vices & Virtues 135 Ne lat hie nawht ðe hande pleiȝende mid stikke. c1205Lay. 17335 Þus þe vnwise king plaȝede [c 1275 pleoyde] mid worden. a1225Ancr. R. 76 Ȝe þat pleieð mit te worlde, nulich ou nout iheren. 1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 1307 When welthe of þe worlde with þe plays, Sek þan gude consayl wyth-alle. c1400Laud Troy Bk. 6248 When he his cosyn ded saw, Him lyked noght with Ector plaw. 1529More Dyaloge i. Wks. 161/1 Than will he call it no scripture, as he plaith with the pystle of sainct Iames. 1650Baxter Saints' R. iii. v. §5 (1651) 95 As children, we play with our meat when we should eat it. 1782Cowper Table Talk 505, I play with syllables, and sport in song. 1827Hallam Const. Hist. (1876) II. x. 263 It required a dexterous management to play with the army. 1870J. H. Newman Gram. Assent ii. viii. 304 Montaigne..could thus afford to play with life, and the abysses into which it leads us. 1945Tee Emm (Air Ministry) V. 52 This will give you a little to play with and allow for a drop in barometric pressure. 1965V. Canning Whip Hand iii. 33, I like a girl who doesn't play with her food or drink. 1976Scott & Koski Walk-In (1977) xxxiii. 237 He was sweating now, all right. And is he playing with me? he wondered. Is the bastard playing with me? 1978Lancashire Life Sept. 76/3 How could they possibly build docks when they had merely {pstlg}60,000 to play with.
b. to play with (someone): to masturbate; usu. refl. colloq.
1922Joyce Ulysses 552 You can apply your eye to the keyhole and play with yourself while I just go through her a few times. 1954H. K. Fink Long Journey 14, I was going with girls..and I didn't feel the urge to play with myself. 1966L. H. Farber Ways of Will iii. 58 This opening scene of a faceless woman silently playing with herself..sets the tone. 1967A. Wilson No Laughing Matter ii. 65 That kind of thinking can easily land you in the loony bin. It's worse than playing with yourself. 1969H. Miller Sexus (1970) viii. 166 ‘Play with it a bit while I finish this.’ ‘You're filthy,’ she said, but she did as I told her. 1971‘V. X. Scott’ Surrogate Wife 54 He played with me. And little by little..I played with him. Ibid. 114 In bed, we played with each other. 1974E. Tidyman Dummy xv. 199 I'd glance over at Donald and he'd be playing with himself in the courtroom.
13. a. intr. To do something which is not to be taken seriously, but merely as done in sport or frolic; to trifle with.
1382Wyclif Gen. xix. 14 And he was seen to hem as pleiynge to speke. ― Prov. xxvi. 19 The man that gilendeli noȝeth to his frend, and whan he were caȝt, shal sey Pleiende I dide [1388 Y dide pleiynge]. 1484Caxton Fables of æsop v. xv, Loke hyther, callest thow this a playe..now I shalle shewe to the how thow oughtest not to playe so with thy lord. 1545R. Ascham Toxoph. (Arb.) 97 The lacke of teachynge to shoote in Englande, causeth very manye men to playe with the kynges Actes. 1842Marryat Perc. Keene x, I'd recommend you not to play with ‘post captains’, said Captain Bridgman.
b. play on or upon († with) a word or words: to make playful use of a double meaning of a word, by way of sport or jest; to pun. Also trans. in causative sense: see quot. 1865.
1593Shakes. Rich. II, ii. i. 84 Can sicke men play so nicely with their names? 1596― Merch. V. iii. v. 48 How euerie foole can play vpon the word. 1683D. A. Art Converse 125 They play often upon words. 1861Wright Ess. Archæol. II. xxiii. 231 The wit or ingenuity of our Anglo-Saxon forefathers was chiefly exerted in playing upon words. 1865Bushnell Vicar. Sacr. iii. v, A practice on words that plays them into inferences not contained in their meaning. 1876Trevelyan Macaulay I. iii. 134 He did not play upon words as a habit.
†c. play upon: to return or recur fancifully to (a phrase, etc.); to dwell upon by repetition; to harp on. Obs.
1605Camden Rem. 14 Giraldus Cambrensis..played vpon these verses. 1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. i. ix. (1686) 26 Playing much upon the simile.
14. a. intr. To make sport or jest at another's expense; to mock. play with († play at, † play on, † play upon): to make sport of, make fun of, ridicule, mock at; to befool, delude. Now rare or merged in 12. (Cf. also 30 a.)
c1000ælfric Gen. xxi. 9 Sarra beheold hu Agares sunu wið Isaac pleᵹode. c1205Lay. 16554, & þet þine hired-childeren pleien [c 1275 pleoye] mid þissen hunde scotien mid heore flan & his cun scenden anan. 1382Wyclif Isa. lvii. 4 Vp on whom pleiden ȝee? [1388 On whom scorneden ȝe?] a1533Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546) K k viij b, All ye togyther there present played, and gested on me. c1550Cheke Matt. ii. 16 Then Herood seing yt he was plaied withal bi y⊇ wiseards. c1586C'tess Pembroke Ps. lxxxix. xiii, Of all his haters none, But boasts his wrack and at his sorrow plaieth. 1611Tourneur Ath. Trag. i. ii, That same heartlesse thing That Cowards will be bold to play upon. 17..Pope (J.), I would make use of it rather to play upon those I despised, than to trifle with those I loved. 1844Mrs. Browning Brown Rosary i. vi, In a sternness quoth she, ‘As thou play'st at the ball art thou playing with me?’
†b. refl. with of: To make fun of, mock at. Obs.
c1489Caxton Blanchardyn xxiii. 75 But iapeth & playeth her self of theym that ben amerouse.
c. trans. To make sport of. colloq.
1891E. Kinglake Australian at H. 117 Those who pass their lives in the bush generally have their heart in the right place, though they do love to play a new chum.
15. intr. To abstain from work; to take a holiday. [A special development of sense 10.] Now dial. (esp. of workmen on strike or out of work).
1377Langl. P. Pl. B. Prol. 20 Some putten hem to þe plow, pleyed ful selde. 1430–40Lydg. Bochas i. ix. (1554) 19 b, A conuencion By enterchangyng, yt eche should reigne a yere The other absent to play & cum no nere. 1542Recorde Gr. Artes (1575) 443 A Mason..played 12 dayes and wrought 28 dayes. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 889 They neuer gaue their enemies one day to rest or play be the space of .xx. dayes. 1581J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 132 b, Surely where nothyng is blameworthy their Pardon may goe play. 1598Shakes. Merry W. iv. i. 12 Master Slender is let the Boyes leaue to play. 1800Hull Advertiser 24 May 4/2 The men will often play on a Monday. 1806Hutton Course Math. I. 139 A workman was hired for 20 days, at 3s. per day, for every day he worked; but with this condition, that for every day he played, he should forfeit 1s. 1892Spectator 16 Apr. 529/1 This Yorkshire idiom means to cease work from any cause whatever. A man ill with rheumatism told me that he had been ‘playing’ eight weeks. 1894Daily News 13 July 7/7 Of the 70,000 men ‘playing’ 40,000 are non-unionists.
III. To engage in a game; and derived senses.
16. a. trans. To exercise or employ oneself in, engage in, practise (a game or definite form of amusement). Also in various figurative expressions: see game n. 5, also bo-peep, duck and drake, fast and loose, handy-dandy, etc.
c888K. ælfred Boeth. xxxvi. §5 [6] Ða cild..maniᵹfealde pleᵹan pleᵹiaþ ðær hi hyriað ealdum monnum. c1250,1297[see game n. 5, 3 b]. a1300Cursor M. 16623 (Cott.) And wit him þai plaid sitisott, And badd þat he suld rede Quilk o þaim him gaf þe dint. c1369Chaucer Dethe Blaunche 618 For fals Fortune hath pleyd a game Atte ches with me. c1440Promp. Parv. 404/2 Pleyyn buk hyde, angulo. 1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 350 The common games plaide and practised at Olympus. 1635Jackson Creed viii. xxxi. §7 As the proverb is, by-standers sometimes see more than they who play the game. 1679Establ. Test 6 The After⁓game they had to play..was to be managed with.. Skill. 1796Chron. in Ann. Reg. 33/1 Next morning the match was played out. 1838De Morgan Ess. Probab. 111 We are entitled to conclude that..the games played were each not less than 3 to 2 in favour of the bank. 1866Mrs. Gaskell Wives & Dau. xiii, He taught young ladies to play billiards on a wet day. 1885Times (weekly ed.) 13 Feb. 16/4 The young men played fives against the tower.
b. to play the game: i.e. according to the rules, fairly; hence to ‘play fair’, act honourably. colloq.
1889[see game n. 4 c]. 1898Kipling Days' Work 248 (Maltese Cat) ‘Play the game, don't talk’, the Maltese Cat whickered. 1904Daily Chron. 2 May 4/5 Men do not talk about their honour nowadays—they call it ‘playing the game’.
c. To represent or imitate in sport; to make pretence of: to practise or deal with in a trifling way or as if for amusement, not seriously. Also with obj. clause to pretend, make believe (that{ddd}) for sport or amusement.
c1386Chaucer Shipman's T. 233 Or elles that we pleye A pilgrymage, or goon out of the weye. 1821Lamb Elia Ser. i. Old & New Schoolmaster, The noises of children, playing their own fancies. 1875Lowell Spenser Prose Wks. 1890 IV. 324 Children who play that everything is something else. 1890St. Nicholas Mag. Oct. 1007 We played that we were gypsies. (Cf. 19.)
d. to play politics: to act on an issue for personal or political gain rather than from principle. orig. U.S.
1863W. Phillips Speeches vi. 113 We do not play politics. 1907Springfield (Mass.) Weekly Republican 13 May 6 Mr. Balfour has seized the opportunity to play politics, and has apparently come out squarely in favor of trade preference. 1931H. F. Pringle Theodore Roosevelt ii. vii. 343 Roosevelt..was playing politics in his own behalf. 1962Listener 15 Nov. 798/1 It has been fashionable to claim that Mr Gaitskell..was deliberately playing politics with the Common Market issue. 1963Times 11 Feb. 11/3 If it is too much to ask any Government to stop playing politics with the economy, the Opposition can at least be urged not to abet it in doing so. 1976Punch 16 June 1070/2 There are a few people who find it disturbing that we are now the most heavily indebted nation in the industrial world—but as the Government would wish me to point out, they are just playing politics.
e. to play the dozens: to engage in a bout of verbal insults and ridicule with one or more other people: used of a ritualized form of dialogue customary among American Blacks.
1933E. Caldwell God's Little Acre x. 142 If you want to play the dozens, you're at the right homestead. 1939J. Dollard in American Imago Nov. 6 One asked the other, ‘Do you want to play the Dozens?’ The other boy said, ‘Yes.’ Ibid. 7 These reactions of concealment and shame convinced me that playing the Dozens is not an orgy of licentious expression for lower-class Negroes; all know that the themes treated are in general forbidden, some refuse to play the game and still others are very resentful and defensive at the mere thought of it. 1942Z. N. Hurston in A. Dundes Mother Wit (1973) 24/1 The bookless may have difficulty in reading a paragraph in a newspaper, but when they get down to ‘playing the dozens’ they have no equal in America. 1962R. D. Abrahams in Ibid. 298/1 ‘Playing the dozens’ is one of the most interesting folkloristic phenomena found among contemporary Negroes. 1970H. E. Roberts Third Ear 11/1 Playing the dozens, making derogatory..remarks about another's mother, parents. 1973Black World Aug. 58/2 Could play the dozens for days, talk about your momma bad enough to make you cry. 1973A. Dundes Mother Wit 141/2 A sample of some of the special techniques and forms of extended word play should convince even the most adamant sceptic that no black child who can signify or play the dozens can rightly be called lacking in verbal skills.
f. to play pussy (Aeronaut.): to fly under cover in order to avoid detection by another aircraft, etc. slang.
1942We speak from Air 30, I wondered if he was playing pussy and intending to jink away. 1942Gen 1 Sept. 14/1 Waiting in the air..he ‘snakes about’ or ‘plays pussy’ in the clouds. 1943Hunt & Pringle Service Slang 52 Play pussy, to take advantage of cloud cover, jumping from cloud to cloud to shadow a potential victim or avoid recognition. 1948Partridge Dict. Forces' Slang 143 Play pussy, to speed from one cloud to another in order to escape detection or to pounce upon a shadowed enemy aircraft.
17. a. intr. To engage or take part in a game. In Cricket said esp. of the batsman.
c1205Lay. 8134 Summen pleoden on tæuelbrede [c 1275 Somme pleoide mid tauel]. c1320Sir Tristr. 310 A cheker he fond bi a cheire, He asked who wold play. 1484Caxton Fables of Avian xxi, The euylle..whiche doo no thynge but playe with dees and cardes. a1548Hall Chron., Hen. V 41 b, The Dolphyn..sent to hym [Henry V] a tunne of tennis balles to plaie with. 1562J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 163 He pleyth best that wins. 1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 34 Though they play for nothing, yet they take great pleasure at play. 1750Chesterfield Lett. (1792) II. 334 A man may play with decency; but if he games he is disgraced. 1866Routledge's Every Boy's Ann. 355 The batsman must play with additional care. 1884H. C. Bunner in Harper's Mag. Jan. 305/1 Well played, sir! 1884Bligh in Lillywhite's Cricket Ann. 3 The last named..playing in his best style.
b. spec. To play for stakes, esp. for the sake of gain; to game, gamble.
1511Churche of Yuell Men (Pynson) E vij, They that make, sell, bye..the dyce, the cardes, the tables... They that serue the players..they yt lende them money for to play. 1599Shakes. Hen. V, iii. vi. 119 When Lenitie and Crueltie play for a Kingdome, the gentler Gamester is the soonest winner. 1615Stephens Ess. & Char., Gamester (1857) 169 If he plaies upon Ticket, he knowes you are..not able to exact, though hee resolves to pay nothing. 1789C. Smith Ethelinde (1814) I. 13 He has had the character of playing monstrous deep. 1809Malkin Gil Blas vii. xii. ⁋8 Playing for his last stake. a1832Bentham Deontol. ii. (1834) II. 125 Every gamester who plays upon equal terms, plays to a disadvantage.
c. imper. play! In Cricket, said by the umpire to the whole of the players at the beginning of an innings or session of play (formerly also, by the bowler as a call to the batsman immediately before the delivery of the ball); also in Lawn Tennis by the server at the beginning of each service.
1787in Waghorn Cricket Scores (1890) p. xiii, When the umpire shall call ‘play’, the party refusing to play shall lose the match. 1837Dickens Pickw. vii, ‘Play’, suddenly cried the bowler. 1869Routledge's Every Boy's Ann. 639 ‘Play’ again called, we commenced our innings.
d. transf. In Cricket, said of the ground or ‘wicket’, in reference to the effect of its condition upon the play.
1866Routledge's Every Boy's Ann. 355 The ground will afterwards play as differently as possible. 1881Daily News 9 July 2 The wicket did not seem to play particularly well.
e. play or pay: a sporting phrase meaning that, if one party to a race or other match fails to ‘play’ or engage in the match, his backers have to pay as if he had lost. Hence play or pay bet, a bet holding good whether the horse runs or not.
1821Sporting Mag. IX. 55 A man gammons himself most truly, if he makes play or pay bets. 1877H. Smart Play or Pay viii, I got a letter to say that the regiment had been wild enough to back me, run or not—play or pay, as it is termed, which means that they will have to pay their money even if I don't run.
f. to play back, play backward(s): in Cricket, said of the batsman: to move back before striking the ball; play forward: to move forward in making a stroke; play through: in Golf, to continue playing, passing other players who have agreed to suspend their game for this purpose.
1816W. Lambert Instr. & Rules Cricket 27 [This] will direct him to play forward at the..bowling. Ibid. 29 If at these [short] kind of balls the Striker plays back about two feet behind the popping crease..it will afford him a little more time to judge how the Ball is coming. 1851W. Clarke in W. Bolland Cricket Notes 135 It is the ball that catches him in two minds, so that he does not know whether to play forward or backward. 1899W. G. Grace Cricketing Reminiscences x. 288 If a boy has once learned to play forward confidently he will soon adapt himself to playing backwards at balls that demand it. 1934W. J. Lewis Lang. Cricket 198 Play back,..to step back with the right foot towards the wicket, playing the ball behind the popping crease. Ibid. 199 Play forward,..to reach forward, advancing the left foot and the bat, in making a stroke. 1967M. Green Art of Coarse Golf x. 110 The general rule of etiquette in Coarse Golf seems to be that solo players have right of way over all matches. It is not normally necessary for them to ask permission to play through—they simply pound on round the course. 1970H. Taylor Golf Dict. 159 If a ball is lost and cannot be found, the player with the consent of the other players signals to those following to ‘play through’. 1973A. MacVicar Painted Doll Affair viii. 89 The strangers came and putted... Duncan told them we were in no hurry and suggested they should play through. 1975Times 29 Aug. 6/4 In breach of the game's etiquette, one fourball, finding itself behind the other at the second hole, attempted without invitation or request to ‘play through’ the slower group.
g. To co-operate, comply, agree; to do what is required of one; freq. in negative contexts. colloq.
1937M. Allingham Case of Late Pig viii. 59 ‘Mr. Whippet,’ she began breathlessly, ‘he's gone! The body's gone! What shall we do?’..I was glad to see she wasn't playing, either. ‘The body's gone,’ she repeated. 1940J. Reith Diary 17 Jan. (1975) v. 238 To see Attlee... Went over past troubles between his party and the Ministry of Information... I think I can make him play but of course he is weak. 1947‘N. Blake’ Minute for Murder x. 223 Charles comes here to fetch Alice. He tells her Nita won't play. They decide to put their plan into operation. 1958‘A. Bridge’ Portuguese Escape ix. 146 Tell me what's happened? Did the Duque play? 1961E. Waugh Unconditional Surrender iii. i. 218 The Air Force aren't playing until they know what's going on over there. 1967‘F. Clifford’ All Men are Lonely Now i. ii. 30 ‘I've had another word with the Minister.’ ‘Will he play?’ ‘He's promised to do everything he can.’ 1973‘M. Innes’ Appleby's Answer iii. xi. 105 Miss Pringle didn't want to play. She choked off her friend.
18. fig. or gen. To act, behave, conduct oneself (in some specified way); chiefly in special phrases (see below). Cf. also 16, 34.
1555Latimer Wks. (Parker Soc.) II. 441 They think that other, hearing of such men's going to mass, do see or inquire of their behaviour there; and thus they play wilily, beguiling themselves. 1599B. Jonson Cynthia's Rev. iv. i, If she have play'd loose with me, I'll cut her throat. a. to play fair: to play according to the rules of the game, without cheating; also, by extension, to do the thing regularly, to act justly or honourably.
c1440York Myst. xxix. 365 Playes faire in feere, and I schall fande to fest it With a faire flappe, and þer is one and þer is ij. 1603Shakes. Meas. for M. iii. i. 141. 1763 C. Johnston Reverie I. 153 They will imagine that you do not play fair. 1866Mrs. Gaskell Wives & Dau. vi, He'll get a..fellowship if they play him fair.
b. to play false, play foul, play foully; also to play (a person) false: to cheat in a game or contest; to deceive, betray.
1579Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 98 Venus played false. 1590–[see false B. 3]. 1605Shakes. Macb. iii. i. 3 Thou hast it now, King, Cawdor, Glamis, all As the weyard Women promis'd, and I feare Thou playd'st most fowly for't. 1680Otway Orphan iv. iii. 1420, I fear the Priest has plaid us false. 1775Sheridan Rivals ii. ii, You play false with us, madam. 1884Times (weekly ed.) 3 Oct. 13/3 Appearances might play them false. 1893N. & Q. 8th Ser. IV. 534/1 If my memory does not play me false, I have also seen the paper in the Gent. Mag.
c. to play into the hands of (formerly also to play something into the hands of): to act so as to give an advantage to (another, either partner or opponent).
1705tr. Bosman's Guinea 32 If the Enemies themselves had not seasonably plaid an Opportunity into our Hands. 1753Hanway Trav. (1762) I. vi. lxxxv. 393 Whatever we play into their hands, is a losing game to this country. 1809Malkin Gil Blas vii. xv. ⁋4, I suspect the clerk of the kitchen and my steward of playing into one another's hands. 1878H. H. Gibbs Ombre 24 He will hold the balance between his friend and the Ombre; playing into the hand of one or the other so as to divide the tricks equally between them. 1879Froude Cæsar iii. 29 The powers which he had played into the hands of the mob to obtain.
d. to play it on (cf. 9): to play a trick upon, take in, cheat; so to play (low) down on to take a mean or unfair advantage of. (slang or colloq.) So † to play on (or with) both hands (see hand n. 40); to play on or upon the square (see square).
1871B. Harte Heathen Chinee iii, Yet he played it that day upon William And me in a way I despise. 1894Outing (U.S.) XXIV. 288/1 This played it on our pursuers very neatly. 1904M. Corelli God's Gd. Man xxi, I always do my best not to play down on a woman.
e. to play favourites: to show favouritism. colloq. (orig. U.S.).
1902H. L. Wilson Spenders 201, I mustn't ‘play favourites’, as those slangy nephews of mine put it. 1905R. Beach Pardners i. 31 Not wishing to play any favourites, I'd picked up a basket of tomatoes, a gunny⁓sack of pineapples, and a peck of green plums. 1973Black Panther 7 July 7/2 The foreman plays favorites and only likes Blacks that act the way they want Blacks to act. 1974‘S. Woods’ Done to Death 132, I decline to think that Lizzie—sorry, I'm not allowed to play favourites, am I?
f. to play for safety, to play safe: to act in such a way as to avoid risks (for orig. use in Billiards see safety 1 g); to play for time: to try to gain more time for oneself; to postpone an action or decision.
1906Kipling Puck of Pook's Hill 212 The habit of playing for time sticks to a man! 1911Conc. Oxf. Dict. 750/2 Play for safety, avoid risks in game or fig[uratively]. 1911H. B. Wright Winning of Barbara Worth xxviii. 395 Greenfield is playing for time so that the strikers will make trouble. 1919F. Hurst Humoresque 54 ‘Oh, anybody that plays as safe as you—’ He raised his voice, shoving back his chair. 1919R. W. Lardner Real Dope iv. 105 Its best to play safe..and see what comes off. 1930Engineering 11 July 56/3 Consequently in ‘playing for safety’ in getting the casting through the machine shop the foundryman has tended towards using softer materials which give open and sometimes porous structures in the heavier sections. 1931W. R. Inge More Lay Thoughts 85 A young man, we will suppose, is rather deficient in natural sympathy and has no expensive tastes. He is also of an anxious temperament and disposed to play for safety. 1942Mrs. Belloc Lowndes Let. 2 Apr. (1971) 229 He said he had come to the Times office last week hoping they would make a row, but of course they played for safety. 1944‘G. Graham’ Earth & High Heaven (1945) 134 All she could do was to go on playing for time, trying to keep Marc from finding out what her family really thought of him, until, after a while, they thought a little better. Ibid. 268 The people who play safe don't change anything, they just sit tight and wait for someone else to change it. 1950E. H. Gombrich Story of Art xxvii. 421 No artist can always ‘play safe’. 1966G. N. Leech Eng. in Advertising ix. 88 One of their functions is a non-communicative one—that of ‘playing for time’ under the pressure of extempore performance. 1975S. Lauder Killing Time on Corvo iv. 41 ‘What are they doing out there?.. Playing for time?’ I was inclined to say that they were playing for the gallery. 1976Southern Even. Echo (Southampton) 11 Nov. 16/4 Mrs. Phillis Babey thought she was playing safe when she telephoned a hospital before leaving home to make sure there was a bed waiting for her.
g. Used with impersonal it as object, together with an adj., adv., or advb. phr., to denote a particular manner of behaviour; to deal with (something) in a specified way; esp. to play it close to one's chest: see chest n.1 9 c; to play it cool: to behave in a relaxed or unemotional manner (see cool a. 4 e); to play it low (down): to behave meanly or despicably; to play it safe = to play for safety (see sense 18 f above).
1873Winfield (Kansas) Courier 24 July 3/1 The horses attached to [the] hack which runs between this place and Wellington, one day last week concluded to ‘play it alone’. 1882B. Harte Flip ii, It's playing it rather low down on the old man. 1901Conrad & Hueffer Inheritors i. 7 ‘Oh, come’, I expostulated, ‘this is playing it rather low down. You walk a convalescent out of breath and then propound riddles to him.’ 1919R. W. Lardner Real Dope iv. 117, I thought I would show them to Capt. Seeley and play it safe. a1921G. H. Gibson in Penguin Bk. Austral. Ballads (1964) 207 It's playin' it low on William, but perhaps he'll buckle-to. 1941F. & R. Lockridge Murder out of Turn vi. 72 It's worth playing it that way until we find out different. 1951Manch. Guardian Weekly 17 July 15 The Republicans are playing it safe. 1955W. C. Gault Ring around Rosa vi. 77 Most gamblers I've met would play it cooler than that. 1960L. Cooper Accomplices ii. i. 73 Edwardes tried to play it just a bit too clever and that's what did him in. 1960Encounter Nov. 30/2 My concern is that young people to-day, by ‘playing it cool’ and fearing to be thought ‘squares’, may create a style of life, not only in work but in every dimension of existence, which is less full, less committed, less complex, and less meaningful than mid⁓century opportunities allow. 1963J. Prescot Case for Hearing x. 163 Let's wait until he's gone too far to draw back, and then we can produce our evidence and shoot him down in flames. That's how I'd like to play it. 1971C. Bonington Annapurna South Face ix. 108 John Edwards dived for cover, but Jonathan Lane, the camera⁓man, played it cool, pausing to switch on the camera before getting out of the way. 1972D. Craig Double Take xii. 149 Everyone knows we've got to play it your way, Mick. 1973‘D. Jordan’ Nile Green i. 11, I let him play it his way. He was my boss. 1977Time 10 Oct. 17/3 You have to follow your hunch. You can't play it safe.
19. play at:
a. To engage or take part in (a specified game or diversion: also fig.): = 16.
1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 3965 Wiþ pleyynge [v.rr. pleynde, pleiȝinge] atte tables oþer atte chekere. a1300Floriz & Bl. 344 Þenne he wule..bidde þe pleie at þe escheker. c1440Promp. Parv. 404/2 Pleyyn at the bal, pililudo. a1548Hall Chron., Hen. VIII 98 b, On saterday the kyng & the Emperor playd at tennice at the Bayne. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 290 To passe away the time, the Lantgrave playeth at the cardes. 1596Shakes. Merch. V. ii. i. 32 If Hercules and Lychas plaie at dice Which is the better man. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 742 Our men plaied at foot-ball with them of the Iland. 1728Morgan Algiers II. ii. 232 His Majesty..really never appeared better pleased than when playing at Loggerheads, provided there was a Prospect of his being a Gainer. 1853Lytton My Novel i. xi, There, two can play at that game! 1884Illustr. Lond. News Christmas No. 22/1 ‘I'm afraid, doctor, we are playing at cross questions and crooked answers’, said Fred.
b. To represent in sport; to amuse oneself with an imitation of: = 16 c.
1840Macaulay Clive Ess. (1887) 527 There is still a Mogul, who is permitted to play at holding courts and receiving petitions. 1849― Hist. Eng. v. I. 613 In their childhood, they were accustomed to play on the moor at the fight between King James's men and King Monmouth's men. 1895Miss Symonds Stud. Prejudices vii, Though she had often played at sentiment, no man had ever touched her heart.
20. trans. with personal object.
a. To play against; to contend against in a game.
c1430Batayle of Egyngecourte 281 in Hazl. E.P.P. II. 104 We will play them euerychone, These lordes of Englande, at the tenys. 1832–8Warren Diary Physic. (1844) II. iii. 175 ‘I'll play you for a hundred pounds, Doctor!’ said Sir Henry; ‘and give you a dozen!’ 1899Tit-Bits 8 Apr. 21/1 Charles Dawson, who has just been playing John Roberts for the championship [in billiards].
b. Cricket, etc. To employ (a person) to play; to employ in a match; to include in a team or company of players.
1751in H. T. Waghorn Cricket Scores (1899) 49 The Earl of Sandwich playes..eleven gentlemen of Eton College against any other eleven gentlemen in England which the Earl of March shall chuse. 1846W. Denison Cricket 65 He has..long been played alone for his batting. 1887Daily News 8 Dec. 3/4 Let the county committees stamp it out..simply by not playing the offenders. 1892Pall Mall G. 4 Aug. 5/2 The day of bowlers who are played for their bowling only is over. 1894Times 22 June 8/2 Surrey played the eleven which has done so well for them in their other matches.
21. a. To stake or wager in a game; to hazard at play. Also fig.
1483Caxton Cato B iv b, A player [at dice] demaunded of hym [St. Bernard] yf he wolde playe his hors ageynst his sowle. 1575in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 441 Neither shall he plaie his said maisters goodes at tables, dyce, tennies, or any other unlawfull games. 1589Hay any Work A iij b, Our brother Westchester had as liue playe twentie nobles in a night, at Priemeero on the cards. 1601Shakes. Twel. N. ii. v. 207 Shall I play my freedome at tray-trip, and becom thy bondslaue? 1870Burton Hist. Scot. (1873) V. liii. 11 It gave the ruler of Scotland a stake which he might play against the English Government.
b. play away († play off): to lose in gambling; fig. to waste, squander, throw away recklessly.
1562Jack Juggler in Hazl. Dodsley II. 115 He hath no money but what he doth steal, And that he doth play away every deal. 1647Ward Simp. Cobler (1843) 67 They will play away..Knights, Rooks,..and all. 1693Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) III. 5 The King..at night..plaid off 200 guineas, according to custome. 1721Ramsay Rise & Fall of Stocks 52 Some lords and lairds sell'd riggs and castles, And play'd them aff with tricky rascals. 1879Dowden Southey iv. 112 Southey could not afford to play away his health at hazard.
c. To play for, or in order to gain (something); to gain by playing: in phr. to play booty, to play a prize (see these words).
d. To bet or gamble at or on (races, cards, etc.); to take chances with. colloq. (orig. U.S.).
1858D. C. Peters Life of Kit Carson 354 He'd bin playin' the papers (meaning gambling) and had lost every⁓thing. 1902G. H. Lorimer Lett. Self-Made Merchant 115 When he chooses a father-in-law who plays the bucket shops, he needn't be surprised if his own son plays the races. 1925E. Wallace King by Night vi. 21 We never say ‘played the races’ here; we say ‘go racing’. 1932Wodehouse Hot Water i. 25, I was a rich man myself at the time of our wedding. But unfortunately I played the Market. 1958Blesh & Janis They all played Ragtime iii. 61 With ten to twenty a night in tips, a piano-player had more than he could spend so long as he didn't gamble or play the ponies. 1973‘R. MacLeod’ Burial in Portugal iv. 73 He plays the stock market.
22. To move or throw (a piece, etc., with which a game is played), as an item in the playing of the game.
a. Chess, etc. To move (a man) to another square on the board.
1562J. Rowbotham Cheasts B iv b, Thou shalt playe thy Queenes Paune as farre as he may go. 18..Walker in Mod. Hoyle (1870) 45 When you touch a piece with the bonâ fide intention of playing it. 1870Ibid. 48 To open the game well, some of the Pawns should be played out first.
b. Cards. To take (a card) from one's ‘hand’ and lay it face upwards on the table, in one's turn. Also transf., said of a ‘hand’, in reference to its effect upon the game; fig. to bring forward, or deal with in some way (a thing or person) for one's own advantage; to play one's cards well, to make good use of one's resources or opportunities (cf. card n.2 2 d).
1680Cotton Compl. Gamester (ed. 2) 82 That he [your Partner] may either Trump them, or play the best of that suit on the Board. You ought to have a special eye to what Cards are play'd out. 1753Foote Eng. in Paris i. i, If Lucinda plays her Cards well, we have not much to fear from that Quarter. 1809Malkin Gil Blas vii. ii. ⁋10 After this, if you do not play your cards, it is your own fault. 1879‘Cavendish’ Card Ess., etc. 163 He played a false card. 1891T. Hardy Tess i. vii, She ought to make her way with 'en, if she plays her trump card aright. 1964N. Squire Bidding at Bridge ii. 23 The hand may play better in either Spades or no-trumps. 1977Homes & Gardens Feb. 17 Work out how the above hand would play opposite this typical Three Diamond opening.
c. In games with balls, as cricket, tennis, golf, billiards, bowls, etc.: To strike (the ball) with the bat, racket, stick, cue, etc., or to deliver it with the hand, so as to send it in a particular direction or place it in a particular position.
1756Gentl. Mag. XXVI. 489/1 From the Parthian steed, Not more unerring flew the barbed reed Than rolls the ball, with vary'd vigour play'd. 1816W. Lambert Instr. & Rules Cricket 33 The Striker should move his right-foot back at the moment of hitting, playing the Ball between his left-leg and the wicket. 1850F. T. Finch in ‘Bat’ Cricket. Man. 95 Cricket ne'er shall be forgot while we can play a ball. 1882Daily Tel. 27 May, In the first innings the Antipodeans experienced some difficulty in playing the bowling of Jones. 1891W. G. Grace Cricket 233 If you can keep up your wicket and play the ball hard away from you, runs are sure to come. 1901H. McHugh John Henry 67 ‘Play the round ball!’ suggests Shine.
d. play on (Cricket): of a batsman, to play the ball on to his own wicket, putting himself ‘out’.
1858Bell's Life 26 Sept. 7/4 Mr M‘Dougall and Grundy caused a total of 20, when the latter ‘played on’. 1882Daily Tel. 19 May, When only half-a-dozen had been scored, Butler played on, and he had to make way for Barnes. 1894Times 10 July 11/2 Mr. Mordaunt was out in [Brockwell's] first over, for, after cutting and driving the ball for four, he played on. 1963Times 7 Feb. 3/3 Sir Donald Bradman hit one straight drive for four before playing on to Statham. 1977Times 2 Dec. 10/5 Another [wicket] to the left arm spin bowler Iqbal Qasim when Willis played on, completed England's misery.
23. To bring into some condition by playing; e.g. to play oneself in, to get into form for, or adapt oneself to the conditions of, play; also fig.; to play time out, to extend the play until the end of the appointed time.
1869Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. 639 Their players had strict injunctions to ‘play time out’. 1894Times 10 July 11/2 Mr. Jackson came in with Dr. Grace, and, although a little uncomfortable at starting, soon played himself in. 1900W. J. Ford Cricketer on Cricket xii. 144 If he would only play himself in quietly..he would get ‘lashings’ of runs. 1928A. Philips Boy at Bank i. i. 13 The cricket was slow to begin with; while the batsmen ‘played themselves in’ carefully. 1969‘J. Fraser’ Cock-pit of Roses vii. 132 ‘Of course, the first day's always difficult.’ ‘Question of playing yourself in?’ 1971D. Ayerst Guardian xxx. 461 He was tied to the Manchester office and given little opportunity to play himself in as a public figure. 1974A. Laski Night Music 122 ‘We'll start with the Mozart, play ourselves in.’..He took the violin out of its case. 1975Times 25 Aug. 9/3 He..went in in the second innings with no time to play himself in.
24. fig.
a. To use or treat as a counter or plaything, to manage or use for one's own ends (like chessmen or cards in a game). Also, to fool, swindle; to play (someone) for a sucker: to treat (a person) as a dupe; to make a fool of; to cheat. Cf. sense 6 e
1656Cowley Pind. Odes, Destinie ii, Some Wisemen, and some Fools we call, Figures, alas, of Speech, for Destiny plays us all. 1879‘Mark Twain’ Let. 12 Nov. (1917) I. 369 You could have played him on a stranger for an effigy. 1886Lantern (New Orleans) 20 Oct. 3/2 Some blokes can never see when they are being played for suckers. 1892Kipling Many Invent. (1893) 168 We've played 'em for suckers so often that when it comes to the golden truth—I'd like to try this on a London paper. 1901Conrad & Hueffer Inheritors vi. 95 It seemed to me that she was playing me with all this nonsense—as if she..were fooling me to the top of her bent. 1931E. Linklater Juan in America ii. xv. 167, I told him what would happen if he tried to play me for a sucker. 1938New Statesman 8 Jan. 39/2 The ‘steamer’ (the victim) after being ‘steered’ (picked up) by one performer and ‘played’ (told the tale) by another, [etc.]. 1941A. Christie Evil under Sun viii. 146 Crazy about the woman, idealising her, suddenly finding out he'd been played for a sucker. 1959T. S. Eliot Elder Statesman i. 27 Stay out of politics, and play both parties: What you don't get from one you may get from the other. 1966R. Stout Death of Doxy ii. 14 If the errand I had tackled for Orrie had been on the level, if he hadn't been playing me,..there would be fur flying soon. 1967New Yorker 18 Mar. 50 Wise up. They're playing you for a bunch of saps! 1973‘D. Jordan’ Nile Green xxxiv. 166 She's a fraud... She's working for the Russians... She's played me for a sucker.
b. To set in opposition, oppose, pit (one person, thing, or party against another), esp. for one's own advantage. In mod. use frequently play off. Also in phr. to play both ends against the middle.
1643Plain English (1690) 9 They could play one Party of Protestants against another. 1732Berkeley Alciphr. vi. §24 An ingenious Free-thinker may..play one absurdity against another. 1807Ann. Reg. 4/2 He played off France against the world, and the world against France. 1835Lytton Rienzi x. iv, The folly is mine, to have played against the crafty Tribune so unequal a brain as thine. 1885Manch. Exam. 6 Aug. 5/1 The Sultan likes to play off one Power against another. 1938E. Waugh Scoop ii. iv. 211 The President kept his end up pretty well—played one company off against the other for months. 1950O. Nash Family Reunion (1951) 46 The wise child handles father and mother By playing one against the other. 1965Listener 10 June 852/1 Their deep African fear of a relapse into subordination makes them play off Eastern and Western contributors. 1972T. P. McMahon Issue of Bishop's Blood v. 62 He would be the first member of the FBI who played both ends against the middle to get a personal belief buttressed. 1974J. Stubbs Painted Face xiv. 192 Natalie..played one against the other for a few days, and reconciled them the following weekend. 1978M. Puzo Fools Die xxv. 285 He was trying to play both ends against the middle, doing his friend the favor and yet trying to warn the reader off the book with an ambiguous quote.
c. play off: to cause (a person) to exhibit himself disadvantageously.
1712Steele Spect. No. 497 ⁋3 His whole Delight was in finding out new Fools, and, as our Phrase is, playing them off, and making them shew themselves to advantage. 1713Addison Guard. No. 71 ⁋5 He would now and then play them off, and expose them a little unmercifully. 1864C. M. Yonge Trial ix, She knew that he was playing the widow off, and that, when most smooth and bland in look and tone, he was inwardly chuckling.
d. To pass off as something else; to palm off.
1768H. Walpole Hist. Doubts 99 Her preparing the way for her nephew, by first playing off and feeling the ground by a counterfeit. 1867R. Giffen in Fortn. Rev. Nov. 620 The trick of playing off Jacobite effusions as the national literature of Scotland had already been found out.
e. to play the field: see field n. 10 d.
IV. To exercise oneself or engage in sword-play, fighting, or fencing.
25. a. intr. To exercise oneself or contend with weapons; spec. to contend for exercise or pastime with swords, rapiers, or sticks; to joust, tourney; to fence. In quot. a 1300, ? to contend (in general sense). Obs. or arch.
c1205Lay. 8145 Þeos tweien cnihtes bi-gunnen mid sceldes to scurmen, ærst heo pleoweden [c 1275 pleoiden] and seoððe pliht makeden. c1275Ibid. 8126 And pleoiden in þan feldes mid sceaftes and mid scealdes. a1300K. Horn 186 Us he dude lede Into a galeie, Wiþ þe se to pleie,..Wiþute sail and roþer. c1440Gesta Rom. liv. 235 (Harl. MS.) Cornelius..come with the aduersarijs ayenste the Emperour, the whiche wolde play. 1553T. Wilson Rhet. 7 b, I maie commende hym for plaiyng at weapons. 1602Shakes. Ham. v. ii. 206 He sends to know if your pleasure hold to play with Laertes. 1692Sir W. Hope Fencing-Master (ed. 2) 137 Whither you be to play with Blunts or Sharps. 1792in Southey Life A. Bell (1844) I. 440 The officers..passed the whole day in the Sun, playing at long bullets.
†b. trans. with the bout or contest as object; as, to play a play, to play a touch (also fig.; see touch n.). Obs.
1470–85Malory Arthur viii. xxxix. 333 Goo thou to yonder pauelione and arme the of the best thou fyndest there, and I shalle playe a merueillous playe with the. 1562Jack Juggler in Hazl. Dodsley II. 114, I care not much At the bucklers to play with thee one fair touch. 1598R. Bernard tr. Terence, Heauton. ii. iii, See you play no wild touch [L. Vide sis, ne quid imprudens ruas].
V. To perform instrumental music.
26. a. intr. To perform upon a musical instrument. Const. on, upon († at, † of).
(In quot. c 825, the vb. seems to be intr. with timpanan in the instrumental case, as the trans. const. with the instrument as obj. is not otherwise known before the 18th c.; but the meaning may also be ‘to actuate, operate’, 6.)
c825Vesp. Psalter lxvii. 26 Plæᵹiendra [c 1000 Ags. Ps. (Spelm.) pleᵹiyndra] timpanan [L. tympanistriarum]. a1240Ureisun 28 in Cott. Hom. 193 Murie dreameð engles biuoren þin onsene. Pleieð, and sweieð, and singeð, bitweonen. c1275Lay. 20315 His harpe he wende..And gan þare to pleoye And moche game makie. c1384Chaucer H. Fame iii. 111 Ther herd I pleyen vpon an harpe..Orpheus ful craftely. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) xxv. 115 Mynstrallez, playand on diuerse instrumentes of music. 1553T. Wilson Rhet. (1580) 133 He can speake the tongues well, he plaies of Instrumentes, fewe men better. 1578Nottingham Rec. IV. 177 Man that pled on the drum. 1673Ray Journ. Low C. 395 All of them cannot paint or play on music. 1743Pococke Descr. East I. 82 Three Mahometans sung Arab songs, beating time with their hands, and playing on a tambour. 1816Jane Austen Emma II. vi. 106 ‘Did you ever hear the young lady..play?’..‘She plays charmingly.’ 1821Shelley Epipsychidion 65 A Lute, which those whom love has taught to play Make music on. 1894Hall Caine Manxman iv. xiv, There came the sound of a band playing at a distance. 1907G. B. Shaw Major Barbara i. 207 Undershaft. Do you play, Barbara? Barbara. Only the tambourine. 1920D. H. Lawrence Lost Girl 17 She even taught heavy⁓handed but dauntless colliers, who were seized with passion to ‘play’. a1953E. O'Neill Long Day's Journey (1956) iii. 89, I couldn't play with such crippled fingers, even if I wanted to. Ibid. iv. 151, I play so badly now. I'm all out of practice. 1974Encycl. Brit. Macropædia X. 1035/1 In March 1831 he [sc. Liszt] heard Paganini play for the first time.
b. Said of the instrument or the music itself.
1588Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 216 The musicke playes, vouchsafe some motion to it. 1660Wood Life 11 Nov. (O.H.S.) I. 347 The canons and students of Ch. Ch...began to weare surplices and the organ playd. a1706R. Semple Piper of Kilbarchan vi, His pipe play'd trimly to the drum. 1860Dickens Uncomm. Trav. v, Hear this instrument that was going to play. a1907Mod. Just then the music began to play.
27. a. trans. To perform (music, or a piece of music) on an instrument.
1509Hawes Past. Pleas. xvi. (Percy Soc.) 70 Where that Musyke, wyth all her minstralsy, Dyvers base daunces moost swetely dyd playe. c1600Shakes. Sonn. cxxviii, When thou, my music, music play'st, Upon that blessed wood. 1676Dryden Aurengz. ii. Stage Direct., Betwixt the Acts, a Warlike Tune is plaid. 1727Gay Begg. Op. Introd. (1729) 2 Play away the ouverture. 1882M. E. Braddon Mt. Royal II. x. 218 Christabel played a Capriccio by Mendelssohn. 1891Blackw. Mag. CL. 862/2 The band played a republican air.
b. To express or describe by music played on an instrument. Chiefly poet.
1603Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 830 Certain Turkish minstrels..plaied them up many a homely fit of mirth. 1697Dryden Virg. Past. v. 134 This tuneful Pipe; the same That play'd my Corydon's unhappy Flame.
28. a. To play or perform on (a musical instrument); to cause (it) to sound.
1727–41Chambers Cycl., Flute, an instrument of musick..played by blowing in it with the mouth. 1755Johnson, To Play v.a...2. To use an instrument of musick. [Todd adds: as, he plays the organ, fiddle, etc.] 1868M. E. Braddon Dead Sea Fr. (Tauchn.) II. vi. 97 Accompanying herself on the guitar, which she played with a rare perfection. 1879Grove Dict. Mus. I. 701/1 He [sc. Johann Michael Haydn] played the violin and organ. 1885Times (weekly ed.) 14 Aug. 6/1 We have..to play the same fiddle as they played, but we..are not going to play the same tune. 1925F. Scott Fitzgerald Great Gatsby v. 114 ‘Klipspringer plays the piano,’ said Gatsby, cutting him off. ‘Don't you, Ewing, old sport?’ 1946E. O'Neill Iceman Cometh ii. 141 She was beautiful and she played the piano beautifully and she had a beautiful voice. 1959‘E. McBain’ 'Til Death xii. 162 My kid sister plays piano. 1973Publishers Weekly 14 May 39/2 Cooke would be shown wandering around historical sites—playing piano in a former brothel in New Orleans, for instance. 1976S. Brett So much Blood v. 69 He plays guitar too?
b. To cause (a gramophone record or a tape) to reproduce what is recorded on it; to play back, to play (a recording) after having made it; also fig.
1903Talking Machine News Oct. 103/2 Each machine should play three records. 1907[see gramophone needle s.v. gramophone 2]. 1932Times Educ. Suppl. 1 Oct. 372/4 The record was ‘played back’ to him, and an expression of amazement dawned on his face. 1934B.B.C. Year-Bk. 419 The ability to play-back a wax before processing is of great assistance in making records of running commentaries. 1939Electronics & Television XII. 172/1 Automatic record changers..enable records to be played for almost three-quarters of an hour without attention. 1956R. E. B. Hickman Magn. Recording Handbk. v. 124 A tape which has been in storage for some length of time should be re-spooled a short while before it is due to be played. 1957Technology June 132/3 Magnetic tape is fed to a control unit associated with the machine tool. When played back the servomechanisms..carry out the demanded movements. 1958Listener 4 Dec. 921/1 Having read what history books have to say about this person..he can play back as much of it as suits him as The Confessions of—for example—Judas Maccabaeus. 1962A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio i. 19 Even with a single microphone, it is still possible to make direct comparison tests by recording short snatches of the various music balances and playing them back. 1962G. Lawton John Wesley's English 199 Many a time Wesley plays back to his readers..the common observations of familiar speech. 1973‘H. Howard’ Highway to Murder xiii. 150 I've said no already. If you like I'll put it on tape and you can play it back to yourself. 1974[see play n. 16 b]. 1978S. Brill Teamsters xii. 290 Barkett paused, as if to play back what he had just said.
c. intr. Of a gramophone record or a tape: to reproduce sound (esp. for a specified period).
1903Talking Machine News Aug. 66/1 Most phonos finish the records almost as soon as one begins to enjoy them, but yours plays quite a long time. Ibid. Dec. 150/1 A record will play..without being screwed down. 1952Godfrey & Amos Sound Recording & Reproduction vi. 163 When running at full speed, a reel of tape which plays for 21 minutes can be rewound in about 2 minutes. 1966‘R. Garioch’ Sel. Poems 28 What a time a reel of tape can play!
d. to play the piano (see quot. 1933). Austral. and N.Z. slang.
1933L. G. D. Acland in Press (Christchurch, N.Z.) 18 Nov. 15/7 Play the piano, to run the fingers over the sheeps' backs in order to find the softest and easiest to shear. 1966Baker Austral. Lang. (ed. 2) iii. 55 An old hand at shearing can spot such a defect in a moment by what is known as playing the piano.
29. With adverbial extension (in, out, off, down, up, etc.): To lead, dismiss, or accompany (persons) with instrumental music. Also, to pass (time) in playing.
1674Head & Kirkman English Rogue III. xi. 136 Mine Host..causing them [sc. the ‘fidlers’] to cease their playing..said..If you have played away my Guests, you shall pay their reckoning. 1823Spirit of Public Jrnls. (1825) 354 Handel being once in a country church, asked the organist to permit him to play the people out. 1844W. H. Maxwell Sports & Adv. Scotl. xxxiv. (1855) 275 The Frasers..were played off the ground by their pipers. 1883in Standard 22 Mar. 3/3 The Hampshire Artillery Band will play all the Artillery past the saluting point. 1884J. Hatton Henry Irving's Impressions of America I. iii. 94 It is customary in American theatres for the orchestra to play the audience out as well as in. 1897Hall Caine Christian x, A band in yellow and blue uniform sat playing the people in. 1898Besant Orange Girl ii. iii, The small band..played the company into the supper-room. Mod. The organist was playing the congregation out. 1902A. Machray Night Side London xiii. 196 When you go upstairs, you find more members up here playing the wee sma' 'oors away.
30. In figurative expressions.
a. play on or play upon: To make use of, or take advantage of (some quality or disposition of another person); to practise upon.
1602Shakes. Ham. iii. ii. 380 You would play vpon mee; you would seem to know my stops. Ibid. 387–9. 1697 Collier Ess. ii. (1703) 74 To flatter the vanity, and play upon the weakness of those in power. 1775Sheridan Rivals ii. i. (1798) 32 You rely upon the mildness of my temper—you do, you Dog! you play upon the meekness of my disposition! 1809Malkin Gil Blas v. i. ⁋35 We fancied that he meant to play upon our fears. 1870Rogers Hist. Gleanings Ser. ii. 116 It is..natural that shrewd politicians should play on the credulity of their dupes.
b. to play first or second fiddle: see fiddle n. 1 b. So to play second, to take a subordinate part.
1809Malkin Gil Blas x. xi. ⁋10, I am..to play second fiddle in all your laudable enterprises. 1822,1862[see fiddle n. 1 b]. 1884Manch. Exam. 9 May 5/5 The Union will..have to play second to the Central Committee.
VI. To perform dramatically; and derived senses. [Cf. OE. pleᵹan n. pl. = L. ludi (see play n. 14); pleᵹhús, playhouse, theatre.]
31. a. trans. To represent in mimic action; to perform as a spectacle upon the stage, etc.; to act (a pageant, drama, etc.). Also intr., to be performed; to take a specified time to be performed. Also fig.
c1380Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 15 Alle þer garmentis..ben atier taken of þe fend, to playe þer pagyn among men. 1457,1468[see pageant n. 1]. 1528Tindale Obed. Chr. Man Wks. (Parker Soc.) I. 340 Mark what pageants have been played, and what are yet a playing, to separate us from the emperor. 1542–3Act 34 & 35 Hen. VIII, c. 1 If ani..person..play in enterludes, sing or rime, any matter contrarie to the saide doctrine. 1548Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Matt. vi. 44 Like as players on the stage do playe theyr playe. 1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie i. xvii. (Arb.) 51 The old comedies were plaid in the broad streets vpon wagons or carts vncouered. 1602Shakes. Ham. iii. ii. 93 The whil'st this Play is Playing. 1809Malkin Gil Blas ii. vii. ⁋25 The doctor..had not the least suspicion of the farce that was playing. 1869Punch 9 Jan. 10/2 Mr. Burnand's new Burlesque, now playing at the Haymarket, is called The Frightful Hair. 1883Manch. Exam. 22 Nov. 5/3 ‘Our Boys’ was played at Guy's Hospital for the amusement.. of the nurses and patients. 1896Pall Mall Mag. Feb. 234 He was alone in the world, with his life half played. 1929Radio Times 8 Nov. 388/2 Typhoon plays for about an hour. 1935E. Waugh Edmund Campion ii. 75 In 1577 a tragedy of his..was produced..before..the widow of Charles IX of France; it played for six hours. 1958Spectator 31 Jan. 135/1 The new symphony plays for an hour. 1972New Yorker 8 Apr. 32/2 Mr. Zeffirelli watched the action from the back of the auditorium, and he told us that, except for a few small details, the scene was playing well.
b. play off: to show off or exhibit by imitation. (Cf. take off.) ? Obs.
1789F. Burney Diary 21 Jan., He took up a fan..and began playing off various imitative airs with it. 1809Malkin Gil Blas vii. vii. ⁋16 Phenicia..was playing off the amiable and unaffected simpleton.
c. To perform a play or the like in (a specified town, theatre, etc.); to appear as a performer or entertainer at (a particular place). orig. U.S.
1896N.Y. Dramatic News 29 Aug. 11/3 A troup of barnstormers..are playing the smaller towns in this vicinity. 1933P. Godfrey Back-Stage xvi. 206 He writes for lodgings to the next town he is playing. 1936N. Coward ‘Red Peppers’ in To-night at 8.30 I. 103 ‘I'll see you don't play this date any more.’..‘I'd sooner play Ryde Pier in November.’ 1959Manch. Guardian 26 Feb. 8/7 Sir John Gielgud is back in London after a tour of Canada and the United States... He played sixty towns and gave 81 performances. 1965Listener 18 Nov. 801/1 The trouble with Freud and his theory of economy of psychic endeavour is that Freud never played Glasgow Empire second house on a Friday night, and I have. 1973Times 27 Jan. 11/8 It's my greatest dream, to play the Palladium. 1975New Yorker 26 May 30/3 The Bolshoi Ballet, now visiting New York en masse for the first time in nine years, is a younger and considerably more experimental version of the company that played the old Met back in 1966.
32. a. trans. play out: to perform to the end; fig. to bring to an end; refl. to come to an end, become obsolete or effete.
1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, ii. iv. 531 Out you Rogue, play out the Play. 1854S. Austin Germany, etc. 344 The great heroic tragedy which was now being played out on the world's stage. 1867H. Conybeare in Fortn. Rev. Nov. 513 The classical and pointed styles each ran their course from prime to decadence—in fact, ‘played themselves out’ completely. 1884J. Quincy Figures of Past 21 This burlesque..gradually played itself out, and came to an end.
b. intr. for refl. or pass. Also, to become worn out or extremely weak.
1835Browning Paracelsus iv. 680 As though it mattered how the farce plays out, So it be quickly played! 1872Rep. Vermont Board Agric. I. 79 The old native fruit of our country is about playing out, as the saying is. 1885Howells Silas Lapham (1891) I. 61 Gentlemaning as a profession has got to play out in a generation or two. 1924R. J. Flaherty My Eskimo Friends iii. ii. 93 The dogs almost played out before we reached the crest. 1964Mrs. L. B. Johnson White House Diary 15 July (1970) 178 A little past one my enthusiasm played out and I put my head in the pillow.
c. pa. pple. played out: performed to the end; brought to an end, ended, finished, over and done with; also, exhausted, used up, effete, worn out. (Cf. 16, 22 b., and played ppl. a. 2.)
1864Burton Scot Abr. I. iv. 183 The drama is not yet entirely played out. 1870B. Harte Further L. fr. Truthful James i, Is our civilization a failure? Or is the Caucasian played out? 1887Westm. Rev. June 272 About twelve or fifteen years ago he was decidedly of opinion that Mr. Gladstone was played out. 1888Lees & Clutterbuck B.C. 1887 xxix. (1892) 325 Today they had made forty miles over this awful trail, and their horses were not unnaturally quite played out.
33. To represent (a person or character) in a dramatic performance; to act the part of.
c1386Chaucer Miller's T. 198 Somtyme to shewe his lightnesse and maistrye He [Absolon] pleyeth Herodes vp on a Scaffold hye. 1513More Rich. III (1883) 79 In a stage play all the people know right wel that he that playeth the sowdayne is percase a sowter. 1590Shakes. Mids. N. i. ii. 31 Yet my chiefe humour is for a tyrant. I could play Ercles rarely. a1631Donne To Sir H. Wotton Poems (1654) 146 Courts are Theaters, where some men play Princes, some slaves. 1825J. Neal Bro. Jonathan I. 92, I do not go to see the characters of the Bible played. a1845Barham Ingol. Leg. Ser. iii. Marie Mignot, Miss Kelly plays Marie.
34. Hence fig. in real life: To sustain the character of; to perform the duties or characteristic actions of; to act as if one were, act or behave as or like, act the part of. (Almost always with the before the object; rarely with adj. absol. as obj.). Esp. in various phrases, as to play the deuce, the devil, the fool, the man, the mischief, possum, rex, truant, etc.: see the ns.
c1374Chaucer Troylus ii. 1191 (1240) But ye han pleyed tyraunt neigh to longe, And hard was it your herte for to grave. 1426Audelay Poems (Percy Soc.) 29 Thai play not the fole, Contenuali thai go to scole. 1433Lydg. St. Edmund ii. 381 Among sarseynes he pleied the lioun. c1530H. Rhodes Bk. Nurture in Babees Bk. 84 Auoyde murther, saue thy selfe, play the man, being compelde. 1550Crowley Way to Wealth A viij b, With extreme crueltie ye haue plaied the lordes ouer them. 1581Sidney Apol. Poetrie (Arb.) 20 Will they now play the Hedgehog that..draue out his host? a1603J. Raynolds Proph. Obadiah iii. (1613) 38 Play the good fellowes your selues with the world. 1662Bp. Hopkins Fun. Serm. (1685) 93 Chess-men that on the board play the King and Queen, but in the bag are of the same materials, and rank with others. 1790–1811Combe Devil on Two Sticks (1817) I. 274 It is an act of prudence to let a woman play the fool, for fear she should play the devil. 1823Lockhart Reg. Dalton viii. i, But we must not play sad now, my dear, I hope you will be happy here. 1896Pall Mall Mag. May 5 It was gall to me to play jackal to Dan, or to any one else.
35. To sustain, represent, act (a part, the part of), lit. in dramatic performance, or fig. in real life: see part n. 9, 9 b.
c1470Henry Wallace i. 165 King Herodis part thai playit in to Scotland. 1548,1600[see part n. 9, 9 b]. 1655Culpepper Riverius Printer to Rdr., The friends of the Sick must play their part, or all will not be well. 1672[H. Stubbe] Rosemary & Bayes 12 Though this expression of taking upon him the person [= personam induere]..may not be culpable enough..and therefore the case must be aggravated with playing a part; truly, the words of playing the part are too light and unbecoming. 1711Addison Spect. No. 89 ⁋4 She ought to play her Part in haste, when she considers that she is suddenly to quit the Stage. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xix. IV. 310 The parts which she was in the habit of playing, and..the epilogues which it was her especial business to recite. 1881Gardiner & Mullinger Introd. Stud. Eng. Hist. i. xi. 195 In the final struggle..England played her part well.
36. a. intr. To act a drama, or a part in a drama; to perform; = act v. 8. Also fig.
1580in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford (1880) 408 No Mayor..shall geve leave to any players to playe within the guilde hall. 1602Shakes. Ham. iii. ii. 104 Ham. My Lord, you plaid once i th' University, you say? Polon. That I did my Lord, and was accounted a good Actor. 1700Dryden Pal. & Arc. iii. 889 Even kings but play, and when their part is done, Some other, worse or better, mount the throne. 1838Dickens Nich. Nick. xxiii, Did you ever play at Canterbury? 1880McCarthy Own Times IV. lxiv. 434 He showed that he was resolved to play on a vaster stage.
b. play up to (Theatrical slang): to act in a drama so as to support or assist another actor; hence, to support, back up; to flatter, toady.
1809Malkin Gil Blas vi. i. ⁋8 You want two good actors to play up to you. 1827Hone Every-day Bk. II. 323 He [a performing elephant] was ‘played up to’ by the celebrated columbine, Mrs. Parker. 1826Disraeli Viv. Grey ii. xv, There is your Playing-up toady, who, unconscious to its feeder, is always playing up to its feeder's weaknesses. 1894Times 5 Mar. 14/1 The windows here are designed, like the others, to play up to the mosaics, and are not intended to be too visible in profile. 1907J. H. Elder-Duncan House Beautiful & Useful ii. 18 Many of our leading architects and decorative artists..‘play up to’, or subordinate everything to one feature in a room. 1927Chesterton Secret Fr. Brown i. 40 There was something downright creepy about that little goblin with the yellow hair, that seemed to play up to the impression. 1929Kipling Limits & Renewals (1932) 358 His mother did social small-talk without daring to stop, and Wilkie played up to her. 1972J. Mosedale Football x. 142 While the pros proved that wasn't literally true, Trippi played up to the spirit of the comment.
c. to play down to: to lower one's standard, quality, etc., to suit the tastes or demands of (one's public); to bring oneself down to (a low standard, level, etc.).
1889G. B. Shaw London Music in 1888–9 (1937) 234 When a theatre has been playing down as nearly as possible to the music-hall level. 1906Beerbohm Around Theatres (1924) II. 215 No dramatist, moreover, ever yet achieved popularity by deliberately ‘playing down to’ the public. 1930Cambridge Daily News 24 Sept. 8/1 Let us avoid playing down to the public, lest it ask us for a better article than we can provide. a1936Kipling Something of Myself (1937) viii. 218 Never play down to your public.
d. to play (a person) off the stage: to act much better than (another actor); to dominate the stage at the expense of (another person). Also fig.
1895G. B. Shaw Let. 9 Mar. (1965) I. 494 Our actor managers have a not unnatural reluctance to be played off their own stages by their leading ladies. 1905Beerbohm Around Theatres (1924) II. 144 He played all the other people off the stage, figuratively. Literally, they remained there, I regret to say. 1920G. B. Shaw Let. 22 Dec. in B. Shaw & Mrs. Campbell (1952) 216 You played Hackett off the stage, and made only a few blunders. 1979P. Mason Skinner xi. 78 Perron was rather surly, a peasant..who is being played off the stage by a man with style.
e. to play for laughs (or a laugh): to try to arouse laughter in one's audience; also trans., to depict or use (something) with the aim of arousing laughter.
In quot. 1905 used as attrib. phr. (without to).
1905G. B. Shaw Let. 2 Oct. (1972) II. 565 The sooner we get John Bull off, the better... An abominable, coarse, play-for-laughs, third class suburban performance. 1906Beerbohm Around Theatres (1924) II. 256 Mr. Shaw was not merely ‘playing for a laugh’. He was trying to reproduce a thing that exists in life. 1963Listener 14 Mar. 468/1 Joan Littlewood sensibly lets this plot look after itself. Her concern is to play for laughs. 1965New Statesman 9 Apr. 580/3 Mr Donleavy..plays the genre for sad laughs.
VII. With adverbs.
37. play along.
a. intr. = sense 17 g above; also, to pretend to agree or co-operate. Freq. const. with. colloq. (orig. U.S.).
1929D. Hammett Red Harvest xi. 112 If the dick would play along, the hole in Tim's head from his own gun..would smooth everything over pretty. 1935S. Lewis It can't happen Here xix. 214 All we desire is for you to play along with us in your paper. 1947J. Steinbeck Wayward Bus 45 There were only two things for Ernest to do—to laugh at her or play along. 1959B. Kops Hamlet of Stepney Green ii. ii. 50, I have no choice. I'll have to play along with him. 1965New Statesman 23 Apr. 638/1 The Labour Party should stand no nonsense from the House of Lords. Although the Tory leadership there is still playing along, defeats of government business inflicted by gangs of Tory backwoodsmen could amount to a deliberate policy of obstruction. 1974M. Birmingham You can help Me iv. 102 She seemed a little surprised at our enthusiasm for literature... But she was ready to play along with us.
b. trans. To deceive or tease (a person); to ‘string along’. colloq.
1965D. Francis Odds Against ii. 23, I smiled at him, and he guessed that I'd been playing him along. 1974‘J. le Carré’ Tinker, Tailor vi. 51 ‘Wait till Percy sees that,’ I tell her—playing her along, like.
38. play down. To minimize; to try to make (something) appear smaller or less important than it really is; to make little of.
1930New Statesman 27 Dec. 351 They accused the Washington departments of being in league with the large employers to ‘play down’ the number of the unemployed and so encourage the too-ready optimism which continues to assert that prosperity is, once again, just round the corner. 1934J. O'Hara Appointment in Samarra x. 295, I heard the boss tell you to play down the story. 1956E. M. Forster Marianne Thornton 29 Personal immortality today may not be denied by orthodoxy but it is played down, it is felt to be self-centred and anti-social. 1958Listener 18 Sept. 428/2 This impression is much diluted in the Arts Council's exhibition, a timid selection which tends to play down the more extreme and remarkable developments of Bomberg's art. 1973‘E. Ferrars’ Foot in Grave x. 186 She might have..given the pair an exaggerated idea of their importance. She had been sure that Henry had been right to play the incident down. 1977Sunday Tel. 4 Dec. 3/6 He accuses church leaders of playing down or disregarding these views and making those who hold them feel ‘guilty and almost unchristian’.
39. play up.
a. intr. To behave in a boisterous, unruly, or troublesome manner; to misbehave; spec. of a horse: to jump or frisk about. orig. dial.
1803G. Colman John Bull ii. iii. 23 (Voices behind.) Bur. They are playing up old Harry below; I'll run and see what's the matter. 1866J. E. Brogden Provincial Words in Lincolnshire 151 He came home beery, and playing-up, broke the dolly. 1877E. Peacock Gloss. Words Manley & Corringham, Lincolnshire 195/1 They're still enif when ther faather's at hoam, but they do play up when they're to their sens. 1886R. E. G. Cole Gloss. S.-W. Lincolnshire 112 This pony does not play up at the trams as the other did. 1888‘R. Boldrewood’ Robbery under Arms II. iii. 42 He could do more with a horse than any man I ever saw. They never seemed to play up with him. 1909J. Swire Anglo-French Horsemanship 25 The secret of remaining on a horse when he ‘plays up’ is to drop the hands, press the heels down, [etc.]. 1931L. A. G. Strong Garden 41 Paddy was always resentful of strangers, and played up with a redoubled vigour if he saw that they were afraid of him. 1968[see get v. 70 m]. 1973K. Giles File on Death iv. 108 Cucumber generally played up with the Chief Inspector. 1976J. Snow Cricket Rebel 66 Back in England, before he had time to bid for a place against Australia, his left elbow started playing up and he was ordered to rest.
b. To behave manfully or heroically; to act in a helpful or co-operative manner. Cf. sense 36 b.
1897H. Newbolt Vitaï Lampada in Admirals All 21 Play up! play up! and play the game! 1899E. Wharton Greater Inclination viii. 249, I was in fact the only one of the three who did n't instantly ‘play up’; but such virtuosity was inspiring, and by the time Vard had thrown off his coat and dropped into a senatorial pose, I was ready to pitch into my work. 1904R. Fry Let. 9 Jan. (1972) I. 216 It is interesting to find that America is playing up so well and I can quite understand it if B.B. transfers his centre of gravity..to Boston. 1924G. L. Mallory Let. 27 May in E. F. Norton Fight for Everest: 1924 (1925) ii. 236, I look back on tremendous effort and exhaustion... And yet there have been a good many things to set on the other side. The party has played up wonderfully. 1966B. Kimenye Kalasanda Revisited 42 The other members played up nicely by expressing them⁓selves as completely horrified. 1979D. Gurr Troika vii. 42, I had to sound sensible. Adult... To hide the secret voice of the schoolboy yelling from the side lines to play up, play up.
c. trans. To make the most of; to emphasize; to exploit or trade upon, esp. in journalism and advertising. orig. U.S.
1909R. Beach Silver Horde 106 It is a good newspaper story and I'll play it up. 1926Publishers' Weekly 22 May 1687/1 Let us play up the habits, the appearance, the likes and dislikes, let us sell authors to our public. 1933E. O'Neill Ah, Wilderness! (1934) i. 23 Richard (coming forward—seizing on the opportunity to play up his pre⁓occupation..). 1945[see ease v. 8 b]. 1961Los Angeles Times 4 Aug. iii. 4 The West Berlin crisis is being played up artificially because it is needed by the United States to justify its arms drive. 1973‘D. Jordan’ Nile Green xi. 49 Guy always plays up the limey accent when he's in the States.
d. To tease, annoy, or irritate (someone); to make sport with; to give trouble to.
1924Galsworthy White Monkey ii. iv. 151 Did she choose that he should go away, thinking that she had ‘played him up’ just out of vanity? 1927Daily Express 10 Dec. 1 The girls thought they had got hold of a soft⁓hearted fool, and they began to play me up. 1934L. A. G. Strong Corporal Tune 138 His body was frightened of what it had undergone..; and now, having succeeded in making Ignatius aware of it, it played him up, throwing him into something approaching panic. 1964A. Christie Caribbean Mystery xxii. 223 That's the sort of thing you feel like when your husband's playing you up and you're terribly fond of him. 1974J. Mitchell Death & Bright Water vi. 55 He wasn't in the mood for throwing, not with his back playing him up like it was. 1977J. Aiken Last Movement xi. 230 They are trying to play me up. They believe that..I lose control. 1979‘M. Hebden’ Death set to Music xv. 163 His stomach was playing him up again.
Add:[V.] [28.] [c.] Hence of a gramophone, radio, etc. (esp. one from which music can be heard).
1930W. Faulkner As I lay Dying 251 We heard the graphophone playing in the house. 1979A. Brink Dry White Season iii. i. 172 On the sideboard the transistor was playing, turned down very low. 1982A. Brookner Providence (1985) vi. 72 A radio was playing very softly.
[VI.] [31.] [a.] For ‘Also intr., to be performed’ read: Also intr., (of a drama, etc.) to be performed; (of a film) to be shown.
1919J. Reed Ten Days that shook World viii. 195 Even the moving-picture shows..played to crowded houses. 1947M. Lowry Under Volcano i. 30 The cinema was dark, as though no picture were playing to-night.
▪ III. play
obs. form of plea n. and v. |