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Did you Misspell it? Play v. i. [imp. & p. p. Played p. pr. & vb. n. Playing.] [OE. pleien, AS. plegian, plegan, to play, akin to plega play, game, quick motion, and probably to OS. plegan to promise, pledge, D. plegen to care for, attend to, be wont, G. pflegen; of unknown origin. √28. Cf. Plight, n.] 1. To engage in sport or lively recreation; to exercise for the sake of amusement; to frolic; to spot. As Cannace was playing in her walk.Chaucer. The lamb thy riot dooms to bleed to-day,Pope. And some, the darlings of their Lord,Keble. 2. To act with levity or thoughtlessness; to trifle; to be careless. ½Nay,¸ quod this monk, ½I have no lust to pleye.¸Chaucer. Men are apt to play with their healths.Sir W. Temple. 3. To contend, or take part, in a game; as, to play ball; hence, to gamble; as, he played for heavy stakes. 4. To perform on an instrument of music; as, to play on a flute. One that . . . can play well on an instrument.Ezek. xxxiii. 32. Play, my friend, and charm the charmer.Granville. 5. To act; to behave; to practice deception. His mother played false with a smith.Shak. 6. To move in any manner; especially, to move regularly with alternate or reciprocating motion; to operate; to act; as, the fountain plays. The heart beats, the blood circulates, the lungs play.Cheyne. 7. To move gayly; to wanton; to disport. Even as the waving sedges play with wind.Shak. The setting sunAddison. All fame is foreign but of true desert,Pope. 8. To act on the stage; to personate a character. A lord will hear your play to-night.Shak. Courts are theaters where some men play.Donne.To play into a person's hands, to act, or to manage matters, to his advantage or benefit. -- To play off, to affect; to feign; to practice artifice. -- To play upon. (a) To make sport of; to deceive. Art thou alive?Shak.(b) To use in a droll manner; to give a droll expression or application to; as, to play upon words. Play , v. t. 1. To put in action or motion; as, to play cannon upon a fortification; to play a trump. First Peace and Silence all disputes control,Herbert. 2. To perform music upon; as, to play the flute or the organ. 3. To perform, as a piece of music, on an instrument; as, to play a waltz on the violin. 4. To bring into sportive or wanton action; to exhibit in action; to execute; as, to play tricks. Nature hereMilton. 5. To act or perform (a play); to represent in music action; as, to play a comedy; also, to act in the character of; to represent by acting; to simulate; to behave like; as, to play King Lear; to play the woman. Thou canst play the rational if thou wilt.Sir W. Scott. 6. To engage in, or go together with, as a contest for amusement or for a wager or prize; as, to play a game at baseball. 7. To keep in play, as a hooked fish, in order to land it.To play off, to display; to show; to put in exercise; as, to play off tricks. -- To play one's cards, to manage one's means or opportunities; to contrive. -- Played out, tired out; exhausted; at the end of one's resources. [Colloq.] Play , n. 1. Amusement; sport; frolic; gambols. 2. Any exercise, or series of actions, intended for amusement or diversion; a game. John naturally loved rough play.Arbuthnot. 3. The act or practice of contending for victory, amusement, or a prize, as at dice, cards, or billiards; gaming; as, to lose a fortune in play. 4. Action; use; employment; exercise; practice; as, fair play; sword play; a play of wit. ½The next who comes in play.¸ Dryden. 5. A dramatic composition; a comedy or tragedy; a composition in which characters are represented by dialogue and action. A play ought to be a just image of human nature.Dryden. 6. The representation or exhibition of a comedy or tragedy; as, he attends ever play. 7. Performance on an instrument of music. 8. Motion; movement, regular or irregular; as, the play of a wheel or piston; hence, also, room for motion; free and easy action. ½To give them play, front and rear.¸ Milton. The joints are let exactly into one another, that they have no play between them.Moxon. 9. Hence, liberty of acting; room for enlargement or display; scope; as, to give full play to mirth.Play actor, an actor of dramas. Prynne. -- Play debt, a gambling debt. Arbuthnot. -- Play pleasure, idle amusement. [Obs.] Bacon. -- A play upon words, the use of a word in such a way as to be capable of double meaning; punning. -- Play of colors, prismatic variation of colors. -- To bring into play, To come into play, to bring or come into use or exercise. -- To hold in play, to keep occupied or employed. I, with two more to help me,Macaulay. Play , v. t. -- To play hob, to play the part of a mischievous spirit; to work mischief. |
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