1616 B. Jonson Epicœne iv. iii, in Wks. I. 572 Who will..inuite vs to the cock-pit, and kisse our hands all the play-time ? View more context for this quotation

1633 Remembrancia in Coll. Malone Soc. I. i. 98 Greate inconveniences..growe by reason of the resort to the Playhouse of the Blackffryers in Coaches, whereby the Streetes neere therevnto are at the Playtime soe stopped, that his Majestes Subiectes goeing about theire necessarie affaires can hardly finde passage, and are sometimes endangered.

c1693 Player's Trag. 12 I was unsatisfy'd till Play-time, for I had sent my Man to see what Play was Acted that day, and found she had a part in it.

1702 S. Centlivre Beau's Duel iii. 28 'Twas my Fortune to sit next him in the Pit, where, during the Play-time he entertain'd me with the prettiest Discourse in the World.

1749 T. Smollett tr. A. R. Le Sage Gil Blas IV. xii. i. 179 I waited impatiently for play-time, that I might go to the theatre.

1809 B. H. Malkin tr. A. R. Le Sage Adventures Gil Blas IV. xii. i. 373 I waited with impatience for play-time.

1920 Publ. Mod. Lang. Assoc. Amer. 35 135 Thus, Dawes agrees to pay 10 s. if ‘by judgment of ffower of the said company’ he should be found intoxicated at play-time, and 20 s. for failure to appear at the play.

1631 P. Fletcher Sicelides iii. vi. sig. G3 The Oxe now feeles no yoke, all labour sleepes, The soule vnbent, this as her play-time keepes, And sports it selfe in fancies winding streames, Bathing his thoughts in thousand winged dreames.

1661 A. Cowley Proposition Advancem. Exper. Philos. Upon Festivals and Play-times they should exercise themselves in the Fields by..Mustering and Training after the manner of Soldiers.

1808 M. L. Weems Life G. Washington (ed. 6) iii. 22 Every day, at playtime, with corn-stalks for muskets, and calabashes for drums, the two armies [of schoolboys] would turn out.

1844 E. B. Barrett Poems II. 127 They are weeping in the playtime of the others.

1874 F. C. Burnand My Time iv. 37 I had come to the end of my play-time.

1946 D. C. Peattie Road of Naturalist (U.K. ed.) iv. 50 I wasn't a child with playtime, any more; I was headlong in the business of growing up.

1976 Beano 17 Jan. 10/2 There's no room in your bag for books, because of your playtime snack!

1995 A. Levy Every Light in House Burnin' xi. 142 Ada had no friends at school and spent her playtimes with her sister, who was in the year below us.

1976 Daily Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica) 14 Aug. 4/4 Radio stations can play an important role in making reggae bigger than it is by allowing reggae at least 75% play time on their programmes.

1992 Washington Post (Electronic ed.) 29 Jan. b1 This song promotes death and destruction. I hope that hearing from me may make you reconsider play time for this kind of song.

2000 T. King Operator (2001) xxvii. 423 MTV had been a driving force behind the success of what industry types called heavy metal ‘hair’ bands, but now they were cutting back on the playtime allotted to such bands, believing that the trend had peaked.

1980 Washington Post 5 Dec. b5 (advt.) Maximum play time is determined by the model [of] videorecorder you own.

1993 Computer Technol. Rev. (Electronic ed.) Feb. 102 Field interleaving is a good solution to extend play time on virtually any program or program segment which is not highly detailed.

2001 Wall St. Jrnl. 12 Jan. a13 (advt.) The DUO-Aria is a full featured, portable digital audio player... The rechargeable Nickel Metal Hydride battery provides up to 6 hours of continuous playtime per full charge.

2002 P. T. Lane et al. CIW xi. 448 RealOne player is easy to configure and use. It displays the name of the sound or video file and the playtime remaining on the track.