| 单词 | to play pretty |
| 释义 | > as lemmasto play pretty 2. Qualifying a verb or participial adjective: prettily, esp. politely, neatly, properly. to play pretty: to act amenably or compliantly.Recorded earliest in pretty-spoken adj. at Compounds. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > good taste > aesthetic quality or good taste > [adverb] > pleasing to the aesthetic sense sweet1338 prettilyc1450 sweetly1576 pretty1617 1617 T. Middleton & W. Rowley Faire Quarrell sig. A2v Many haue said it is a handsome pretty spoken infant. 1667 S. Pepys Diary 6 Sept. (1974) VIII. 423 The several states of man's age, to 100 year old, is shown very pretty and solemne. 1782 F. Burney Cecilia V. 209 You ought to behave pretty, and seem contented. 1820 Ld. Byron Let. 21 Sept. (1977) VII. 177 Why do you not say so at once instead of playing pretty. 1861 ‘G. Eliot’ Silas Marner xvi. 298 I like Aaron to..behave pretty to you. 1876 in C. Mordaunt & W. R. Verney Ann. Warwickshire Hunt (1896) II. 7 Were halloaed on to a fox from Frog Hall Osiers, and ran him very pretty by Kineton Village. 1891 J. Newman Scamping Tricks & Odd Knowl. i. 2 We can talk pretty to each other. 1937 Times Lit. Suppl. 25 Dec. 970/2 This submerged Dickens, who would not ‘play pretty’ to any orthodoxy old or new, comes nearer to raising his head in the Christmas Books than in his longer works. 1972 Driving (Dept. of Environment) (ed. 2) 119 Always try to ‘park pretty’; that is, squared up in the middle of the marked space. 1995 Sports Illustrated (Nexis) 21 Nov. 124 The NFL The Panthers don't play pretty, but they do play smart. < as lemmas |
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