playplace

noun — 2 senses

playplace

noun

Etymology From play + place.

1

A place for recreation and play.

  • Lanny sat for a while looking out over the peaceful strait of water, which makes a playplace as well as a channel of commerce for the great metropolis.1946 May, Upton Sinclair, “The Darkest Hour”, in A World to Win (Lanny Budd; 7), New York, N.Y.: Viking Press, →OCLC, book 5 (A Tide in the Affairs of Men), section IV, page 358:
  • Make a playplace and a showplace of your lawn with Lawn Billiards’ color-brite court equipment—weather-proof plastic balls, enameled metal pockets, streamlined mallets, gleaming markers, etc.1950 April, The Lawn Billiards Company, “Bring Zest to Family Fun-Time”, in Elizabeth Gordon, editor, House Beautiful, volume 92, number 4, New York, N.Y.: Hearst Magazines, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 248, column 1:
2 more examples
  • Play is the botanical gardens, the dinner table surrounded by friends and graced with the perfect centerpiece, the soccer field dotted with children running breathlessly. I would suggest that this playplace, playfield, playground is related to the idea of sacred space. The garden of Eden became a playground in that it was designated with boundaries as a place for Adam and Eve to enjoy.1999, R. Scott Colglazier, “Let’s Go Down to the Garden”, in Touchstones: Spiritual Awakenings in Everyday Life, St. Louis, Mo.: Chalice Press, →ISBN, chapter 6 (Play and Work: Balancing the Sacred Rhythms), page 116:
  • Gavven and Mom walked back down the street and around to the playplace on the next street. The playplace wasn’t a school, but most small children went there for two or three hours each day. They enjoyed playing together with the toys and pets. The playplace was a big brick building, but today it, too, was being painted lavender.2001, Sally Odgers, “No Questions”, in Glory Gate, Auckland: Shortland Publications, →ISBN, page 17:
2

Broadly A recreational space for children, often used in the context of indoor playgrounds or jungle gyms with tube mazes.

Related terms
kiddie land, tube maze

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.