Found 1 items, similar to To play off.
English → English (gcide) Definition: To play off Play \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. [root]28. Cf. Plight, n.] 1. To engage in sport or lively recreation; to exercise for the sake of amusement; to frolic; to spot. [1913 Webster] As Cannace was playing in her walk. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster] The lamb thy riot dooms to bleed to-day, Had he thy reason, would he skip and play! --Pope. [1913 Webster] And some, the darlings of their Lord, Play smiling with the flame and sword. --Keble. [1913 Webster] 2. To act with levity or thoughtlessness; to trifle; to be careless. [1913 Webster] “Nay,” quod this monk, “I have no lust to pleye.” --Chaucer. [1913 Webster] Men are apt to play with their healths. --Sir W. Temple. [1913 Webster] 3. To contend, or take part, in a game; as, to play ball; hence, to gamble; as, he played for heavy stakes. [1913 Webster] 4. To perform on an instrument of music; as, to play on a flute. [1913 Webster] One that . . . can play well on an instrument. --Ezek. xxxiii. 32. [1913 Webster] Play, my friend, and charm the charmer. --Granville. [1913 Webster] 5. To act; to behave; to practice deception. [1913 Webster] His mother played false with a smith. --Shak. [1913 Webster] 6. To move in any manner; especially, to move regularly with alternate or reciprocating motion; to operate; to act; as, the fountain plays. [1913 Webster] The heart beats, the blood circulates, the lungs play. --Cheyne. [1913 Webster] 7. To move gayly; to wanton; to disport. [1913 Webster] Even as the waving sedges play with wind. --Shak. [1913 Webster] The setting sun Plays on their shining arms and burnished helmets. --Addison. [1913 Webster] All fame is foreign but of true desert, Plays round the head, but comes not to the heart. --Pope. [1913 Webster] 8. To act on the stage; to personate a character. [1913 Webster] A lord will hear your play to-night. --Shak. [1913 Webster] Courts are theaters where some men play. --Donne. [1913 Webster] 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. [1913 Webster] Art thou alive? Or is it fantasy that plays upon our eyesight. --Shak. [1913 Webster] (b) To use in a droll manner; to give a droll expression or application to; as, to play upon words. [1913 Webster] Play \Play\, v. t. 1. To put in action or motion; as, to play cannon upon a fortification; to play a trump. [1913 Webster] First Peace and Silence all disputes control, Then Order plays the soul. --Herbert. [1913 Webster] 2. To perform music upon; as, to play the flute or the organ. [1913 Webster] 3. To perform, as a piece of music, on an instrument; as, to play a waltz on the violin. [1913 Webster] 4. To bring into sportive or wanton action; to exhibit in action; to execute; as, to play tricks. [1913 Webster] Nature here Wantoned as in her prime, and played at will Her virgin fancies. --Milton. [1913 Webster] 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. [1913 Webster] Thou canst play the rational if thou wilt. --Sir W. Scott. [1913 Webster] 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. [1913 Webster] 7. To keep in play, as a hooked fish, in order to land it. [1913 Webster] To play hob, to play the part of a mischievous spirit; to work mischief. 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.] [1913 Webster]