| 单词 | to play for |
| 释义 | > as lemmasto play for —— to play for —— 1. intransitive. To attempt to elicit or provoke (a particular emotional response). Chiefly in to play for sympathy. ΚΠ 1855 Househ. Words 9 June 442/1 Combinations of feelings and circumstances are previsionally arranged and deliberately ‘played for’, as if a love affair were a game of chess. 1898 Herald-Despatch (Decatur, Illinois) 16 July He was playing for sympathy. 1913 D. H. Lawrence Sons & Lovers ii. 35 She hated her husband because..he whined and played for sympathy. 1992 N.Y. Times 15 Nov. e4/1 Was he simply taking advantage of his illness and his enormous popularity to play for sympathy? 2. intransitive. to play for time: to try to gain more time for oneself, esp. to postpone an action or decision. ΘΚΠ the world > time > a suitable time or opportunity > untimeliness > delay or postponement > delay [verb (intransitive)] > play for time temporize1579 to gain time1720 to play for time1883 stall1903 1883 Atlantic Monthly Nov. 710/2 The leaders who saw what was coming were simply playing for time and waiting until they could get a President in whom they could confide. 1906 R. Kipling Puck of Pook's Hill 212 The habit of playing for time sticks to a man! 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. 1992 Independent 30 July 10/7 I um'd and ah'd and played for time. 3. intransitive. to play for laughs (also a laugh): to try to make the audience laugh. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > acting > act [verb (intransitive)] > in specific manner to tear a (the) cat1600 to top one's part1672 to walk through ——1824 corpse1874 sketch1888 underplay1896 to play for laughs (also a laugh)1900 register1913 scene-steal1976 society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > acting > act [verb (transitive)] > act in specific manner misact1609 tragedize1755 overact1760 overplay1767 to walk through ——1824 underact1847 to play down to ——1880 routine1897 underplay1897 milk1921 ham1933 hoke1935 to camp it up1957 to play for laughs (also a laugh)1963 undercharacterize1970 1900 N.Y. Times 8 Jan. 7/1 I see the tragic muse condemned to farce-comedy, Hamlets with specialties, Leah playing for a laugh, and Othello in ‘Uncle Tom's Cabin’. 1906 M. Beerbohm 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. 1963 Listener 14 Mar. 468/1 Joan Littlewood sensibly lets this plot look after itself. Her concern is to play for laughs. 2004 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) (Nexis) 18 Sept. m15 The movie lacks any sense of menace, and seems to be playing for laughs rather than thrills. < as lemmas |
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