US /pleɪ̯/ [pɫ̥eɪ̯ ~ pʰɫeɪ̯] · South-Asia /ple(j)/
Etymology
From Middle English pleyen (verb) and Middle English pleye (noun), from Old English plegian and plegan, plagian (“to play, exercise, etc.”), from Proto-West Germanic *plehan (“to care about, be concerned with”) and Proto-West Germanic *plegōn (“to engage, move”), of uncertain origin. cognates and related terms Cognate with Scots play (“to act or move briskly, cause to move, stir”), Saterland Frisian pleegje (“to look after, care for, maintain”), West Frisian pleegje, pliigje (“to commit, perform, bedrive”), Middle Dutch pleyen ("to dance, leap for joy, rejoice, be glad"; compare Modern Dutch pleien (“to play a particular children's game”)), Dutch plegen (“to commit, bedrive, practice”), German pflegen (“to care for, be concerned with, attend to, tend”). Related also to Old English plēon (“to risk, endanger”). More at plight, pledge. The noun is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, plega, plæġa (“play, quick motion, movement, exercise; (athletic) sport, game; festivity, drama; battle; gear for games, an implement for a game; clapping with the hands, applause”), deverbative of plegian (“to play”); see above.
To act in a manner such that one has fun; to engage in activities expressly for the purpose of recreation or entertainment.
The children played in the park.
A youngster[…]listed some of the things his pet did not do:[…]go on vacation, play in the same way that he did with his friends, and so on.2001, Annabelle Sabloff, Reordering the Natural World, Univ. of Toronto Press, page 83:
1 more example
2003, Anne-Nelly Perret-Clermont et al. (eds.), Joining Society: Social Interaction and Learning in Adolescence and Youth, Cambridge Univ. Press, p.52:
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Especially, With 'with' To toy or trifle; to act with levity or thoughtlessness; to be careless.
See also play with
Don't play with your food!
He's just playing with her affections.
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Thus Men are apt to play with their Healths and their Lives as they do with their Cloaths: [...]a. 1700 (date written), William Temple, “Of Health and Long-life”, in Miscellanea. The Third Part. […], London: […] Jonathan Swift, […] Benjamin Tooke, […], published 1701, →OCLC, page 167:
3
To perform in (a sport); to participate in (a game).
He plays on three teams.
Who's playing now?
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play football, play sports, play games
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Specifying a particular sporting role or position.
He plays left back for Mudchester Rovers
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To compete against, in a game.
We're playing one of the top teams in the next round.
England will not be catapulted among the favourites for Euro 2012 as a result of this win, but no victory against Spain is earned easily and it is right they take great heart from their efforts as they now prepare to play Sweden at Wembley on Tuesday.2011 November 12, “International friendly: England 1-0 Spain”, in BBC Sport:
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To be the opposing score to.
In the scoring of games and sports
Look at the score now ... 23 plays 8!
7
To contend or fight using weapons, both as practice or in real life-or-death combats; to engage in martial games; to joust; to fence
8
To act or behave in a stated way.
to play safe, to play fair, to play dirty
His mother played false with a smith.c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
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Now here you go again, you say you want your freedom / Well, who am I to keep you down? / It's only right that you should play the way you feel it / But listen carefully to the sound of your loneliness1977, “Dreams”, in Stevie Nicks (lyrics), Fleetwood Mac (music), Rumours, performed by Stevie Nicks:
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To give a false appearance of being; to pretend to be.
He plays dumb, but actually he's very clever.
Don't play the innocent with us.
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Thou canst play the rational if thou wilt.1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC:
Playing hard to get is not the same as slamming the door in someone's face.1985, Sharon S. Brehm, Intimate Relationships:
Now, surveying his final link, he had the nice advantage of being able to play coy with established port cities that desperately wanted his proven railroad.1996, Michael P. Malone, James J Hill: Empire Builder of the Northwest:
Instead, they played dumb, remained silent, and did their classwork.2003, John U. Ogbu, Black American Students in an Affluent Suburb: A Study of Academic Disengagement, page 194:
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To act as (the indicated role).
Stop playing the fool.
No part of the brain plays the role of permanent memory.
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In plants, the ability to recognize self from nonself plays an important role in fertilization, because self-fertilization will result in less diverse offspring than fertilization with pollen from another individual.2013 May-June, Katrina G. Claw, “Rapid Evolution in Eggs and Sperm”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3:
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To portray (a character) in (a film or theatre).
Who played Scarlett O'Hara in 'Gone with the Wind'?
Mister Friel plays Virgil to the narrator's Dante, finding him an apartment, bringing him to the right parties and offering the last word on gay New York.1983 December 3, Michael Wilson, “The Same Story Embellished”, in Gay Community News, volume 11, number 20, page 12:
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I'm not a doctor, but I do play one on TV.1984, Chris Robinson, commercial for Vicks Formula 44
An opening sequence, featuring a de-aged Ford playing a younger Indy, is a bold and nostalgic gambit, offering a glimpse of what you've missed.2023 June 29, City AM, London, page 18, column 2:
› To produce sound (especially music), moving…
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Especially, Of a person To produce music using a musical instrument.
I'll play the piano and you sing.
Can you play an instrument?
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I've practiced the piano off and on, but I still can't play very well.
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Of a musical instrument To produce music.
This piano plays out of tune.
If your guitar plays well on fretted strings but annoys you on the open ones, the nut's probably worn out.2007, Dan Erlewine, Guitar Player Repair Guide, →ISBN, page 220:
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Of a person To operate (a device or media) so as to cause sound (especially music) or moving pictures to be produced.
You can play the DVD now.
Don't play your radio so loud!
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Play the audio clip to hear how the word is pronounced.
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Usually, Of a person To render (a musical title, compositional style, film title, etc.) using a musical instrument or device.
Do you know how to play Für Elise on the piano?
We especially like to play jazz together.
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She keeps playing 'Achy Breaky Heart' over and over again on her stereo.
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MediaUsually, Of a device To emit or relay sound (especially music) or moving pictures; (of a device) to operate media.
The juke box is playing our favourite song.
The radio was playing in the background.
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This DVD is scratched and won't play.
Channel 9 is playing that old comedy series again.
My cassette player won't play this worn-out old tape.
His latest film is playing in the local theatre tomorrow.
Some kind of lounge music was playing in the background.
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Usually To perform or give performances in or at (a venue or location).
Of a theatrical company or band
The band is playing large arenas nationwide.
I got a hold of Louis (Satchmo) Armstrong's agent and I explained to him on the phone that, "I know you're playing London on Wednesday night. Why don't you come and play the Arena in Windsor on Saturday night?"2008, My Life: From Normandy to Hockeytown, →ISBN, page 30:
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To act or perform (a play).
to play a comedy
› To move briskly, sweepingly, back and forth…
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To move in a light or brisk manner.
The fountain plays.
The leaves played in the wind.
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All fame is foreign but of true desert, / Plays round the head, but comes not to the heart.1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], (please specify |epistle=I to IV), London: […] J[ohn] Wilford, […], →OCLC:
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To move so as to fall upon or sweep across something, or to direct or operate (something) in such a manner.
The torch beam played around the room.
They played the jet of water onto the seat of the fire.
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to play cannon upon a fortification
[T]he ſetting Sun / Plays on their ſhining Arms and burniſh'd Helmets, / And cover's all the Field vvith Gleams of Fire.1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act V, scene i, page 60:
The colonel and his sponsor made a queer contrast: Greystone [the sponsor] long and stringy, with a face that seemed as if a cold wind was eternally playing on it.1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter I, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
The Poet and the Painter / Casting shadows on the water / As the sun plays on the infantry / Returning from the sea.1972, “Thick As A Brick”, Ian Anderson (lyrics), performed by Jethro Tull:
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To move in an alternating or reciprocal manner; to move to and fro.
the waving sedges play with windc. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act INDUCTION, scene ii]:
The heart beats, the blood circulates, the lungs play.1705, George Cheyne, Philosophical Principles of Religion:
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To bring into action or motion; to exhibit in action; to execute or deploy.
That was a great shot he played!
He played the blue ball, but the green would have been a better choice.
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When you're in a team, you have to play your part.
to play a trump in a card game, to play tricks, to play a joke
Nature here / Wantoned as in her prime, and played at will / Her virgin fancies.1667, John Milton, “Book V”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
The Bat—they called him the Bat.[…]. He'd never been in stir, the bulls had never mugged him, he didn't run with a mob, he played a lone hand, and fenced his stuff so that even the fence couldn't swear he knew his face.1920, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Avery Hopwood, chapter I, in The Bat: A Novel from the Play (Dell Book; 241), New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing Company, →OCLC:
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To handle or deal with (a matter or situation) in a stated way.
The bank robbers have three hostages inside, so we're going to have to play this very carefully.
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To handle or deal with (something) in a calculating manner intended to achieve profit or gain.
He made a fortune on Wall Street, playing the markets.
In this business you have to play the percentages.
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To be received or accepted (in a given way); to go down.
This policy plays well with younger voters.
How will this play in the swing states?
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To gamble.
“I play, comparatively, very little; I don't drink a fifth part so much as half the people I live with; and I reckon myself, upon the whole, a very orderly, sober fellow.”1791, Charlotte Smith, Celestina, Broadview, published 2004, page 407:
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To keep in play, as a hooked fish in order to land it.
If this our song, you're the composer / I'm not a game, but you play me anyway2020, “Ballad Of You & I”, performed by Hotel Lux:
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To kid; to joke; to say something for amusement; to act, or to treat something, unseriously.
African-American Vernacular
They don't play with the rules around here.
He grew serious. “Sorry, E.M. Just fucking around.” “Well, I don’t play like that and you know it.”2016, T. Styles, “seventeen”, in Clown Niggas, United States of America: The Cartel Publications, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 161:
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To take part in amorous activity; to make love; see also play around.
Her proper face / I not descerned in that darkesome shade, / But weend it was my loue, with whom he playd.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
Cheree, Cheree / Je t'adore, baby / I love you / Oh, come play with me1977, “Cheree”, in Suicide, performed by Suicide:
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For additional senses in various idiomatic phrases, see the individual entries, such as play along, play at, play down, play off, play on, play out, play to, play up, etc.
play
noun
Etymology
From Middle English pleyen (verb) and Middle English pleye (noun), from Old English plegian and plegan, plagian (“to play, exercise, etc.”), from Proto-West Germanic *plehan (“to care about, be concerned with”) and Proto-West Germanic *plegōn (“to engage, move”), of uncertain origin. cognates and related terms Cognate with Scots play (“to act or move briskly, cause to move, stir”), Saterland Frisian pleegje (“to look after, care for, maintain”), West Frisian pleegje, pliigje (“to commit, perform, bedrive”), Middle Dutch pleyen ("to dance, leap for joy, rejoice, be glad"; compare Modern Dutch pleien (“to play a particular children's game”)), Dutch plegen (“to commit, bedrive, practice”), German pflegen (“to care for, be concerned with, attend to, tend”). Related also to Old English plēon (“to risk, endanger”). More at plight, pledge. The noun is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, plega, plæġa (“play, quick motion, movement, exercise; (athletic) sport, game; festivity, drama; battle; gear for games, an implement for a game; clapping with the hands, applause”), deverbative of plegian (“to play”); see above.
Activity for amusement only, especially among the young.
Formerly countable
Children learn through play.
She was fond of all boys' plays, and greatly preferred cricket […] to dolls […]1803 (date written), [Jane Austen], Northanger Abbey; published in Northanger Abbey: And Persuasion. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: John Murray, […], 20 December 1817 (indicated as 1818), →OCLC:
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1964, Lou Sullivan, personal diary, quoted in 2019, Ellis Martin, Zach Ozma (editors), We Both Laughed In Pleasure You know, when I was around 7-11 years old, my favorite play would be "boys." One of us, Bridget, Maryellen, or I, would say "Let's play boys." We all had boy names, set up the pretend surroundings, and acted like boys.
2
Similar activity in young animals, as they explore their environment and learn new skills.
This kind of play helps the young lion cubs develop their hunting skills.
3
The conduct, or course, of a game.
Play was very slow in the first half.
After the rain break, play resumed at 3 o'clock.
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The game was abandoned after 20 minutes' play
4
Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports, Video gamesAlso, Figuratively, With certain prepositions The sphere or circumstance in which a playing implement, such as a ball, is played or available to be played (see also in play, out of play).
In potting the yellow ball, he's knocked the green into play.
When a chess piece is captured, it is removed from play.
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That option has been removed from play.
Sure enough, the text also teases the return of the weapon in an upcoming dungeon. Honestly, we're so power crept these days it will probably need a buff to see play.2024 September 9, Tim Clark, “[Destiny 2 is abandoning big annual expansions and linear campaigns in favour of more frequent releases that are 'mysterious, weird, and not afraid to try new things'] Hot take: Tim Clark”, in PC Gamer, Bath, Somerset: Future plc, archived from the original on 09 Sep 2024:
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An individual's performance in a sport or game.
His play has improved a lot this season.
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A short sequence of action within a game.
That was a great play by the Mudchester Rovers forward.
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An action carried out when it is one's turn to play.
Turn-based games
AWARD is better than either WARED or WADER. However, there's an even better play! If you have looked at the two-to-make-three letter list, you may have noticed the word AWA.2009, Joe Edley, John Williams, Everything Scrabble: Third Edition, page 85:
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A literary composition, intended to be represented by actors impersonating the characters and speaking the dialogue.
This book contains all of Shakespeare's plays.
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A theatrical performance featuring actors.
We saw a two-act play in the theatre.
My kids are acting in the school play this Christmas.
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An attempt to move forward, as in a plan or strategy, for example by a business, investor, or political party.
ABC Widgets makes a play in the bicycle market with its bid to take over Acme Sprockets.
Turpin signals the Metric Party's long-term play for housing reform
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A geological formation that contains an accumulation or prospect of hydrocarbons or other resources.
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Movement (of a pattern of light etc.)
the play of light and shadow across the boy's face
the sum of mental and physical phenomena known by the conventional name “person” or “individual” is not at all the mere play of blind chance.1956, Nyanatiloka Mahåthera, Fundamentals of Buddhism Four Lectures:
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Freedom to move.
give play to your imagination
The negro came up and Bond allowed his arms to be tied behind his back. They were good knots. There was no play in them. They hurt.1954, Ian Fleming, “'Good Night To You Both'”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957, page 223:
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The extent to which a part of a mechanism can move freely, as for example lash, backlash, or slack.
No wonder the fanbelt is slipping: there’s too much play in it.
Too much play in a steering wheel may be dangerous.
Sexy LF novice seeks seasoned top to spice up my play life. Teach me a lesson I won't forget.1990 December 9, “Butch In The Streets, Bottom Between The Sheets (personal advertisement)”, in Gay Community News, volume 18, number 21, page 17:
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The rarity of male domination in fantasy play is readily explained.1996, Sabrina P Ramet, Gender reversals and gender cultures:
Palm Springs M seeks sane F 4 safe bdsm play1996, "toptigger", (on Internet newsgroup alt.personals.spanking.punishment)
There were none of the usual restrictions on public nudity or sexual interaction in the club environment. Still, the night was young, and as he'd made his way to the bar to order Mistress Ramona a gin and tonic, he'd seen little in the way of play.2013, Rachel Kramer Bussel, Best Bondage Erotica 2014:
This type of play allows some people to relax and enjoy being given pleasure without having to think about giving pleasure back at the same time.2014, Jiri T. Servant, Facts About Bondage - Bondage Guide For Beginners:
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An instance of watching or listening to media.
That video of my cat falling off the piano has had ten thousand plays.
The most-streamed artist of the year was British singer Ed Sheeran, who amassed 860 million plays with hits like “I See Fire.”2014 December 3, Victor Luckerson, “These Were Spotify's Most-Streamed Songs This Year”, in Time, archived from the original on 02 Jun 2017:
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An instance or instances of causing media to be watched or heard, such as by broadcasting.
Their single got a play on the radio.
The song got a lot of play in the clubs.
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A button that, when pressed, causes media to be played.
press play
19
An instance of wordplay.
play on words
The name Wiktionary is a play on the words wiki and dictionary.
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Archaic, In compounds, Usually Activity relating to martial combat or fighting.