PLAY, v.i.

1. Any exercise or series of actions intended for pleasure, amusement or diversion, as at cricket or quoit, or at blind man's buff.
2. Amusement; sport; frolick; gambols. – Spenser. Two gentle fawns at play. – Milton.
3. Game; gaming; practice of contending for victory, for amusement or for a prize, as at dice, cards or billiards.
4. Practice in any contest; as, sword-play. He was resolved not to speak distinctly, knowing his best play to be in the dark. – Tillotson. John naturally loved rough play. – Arbuthnot.
5. Action; use: employment; office. But justifies the next who comes in play. – Dryden.
6. Practice; action; manner of acting in contest or negotiation; as, fair play; foul play.
7. 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.
8. Representation or exhibition of a comedy or tragedy; as, to be at the play. He attends every play.
9. Performance on an instrument of music.
10. Motion; movement, regular or irregular; as, the play of a wheel or piston.
11. State of agitation or discussion. Many have been sav'd, and many may, / Who never heard this question brought in play. – Dryden.
12. Room for motion. The joints are let exactly into one another, that they have no play between them. – Moxon.
13. Liberty of acting; room for enlargement or display; scope; as, to give full play to mirth. Let the genius have free play.

1. To use any exercise for pleasure or recreation; to do something not as a task or for profit, but for amusement; as, to play at cricket. The people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play. – Exod. xxxii.
2. To sport; to frolick; to frisk. The lamb thy riot dooms to bleed to day, / Had he thy reason, would he skip and play? – Pope.
3. To toy; to act with levity. – Milton.
4. To trifle; to act wantonly and thoughtlessly. Men are apt to play with their healths and their lives as they do with their clothes. – Temple.
5. To do something fanciful; to give a fanciful turn to; as to play upon words. – Shak.
6. To make sport, or practice sarcastic merriment. I would make use of it rather to play upon those I despise, than trifle with those I love. – Pope.
7. To mock; to practice illusion. Art thou alive, / Or is it fancy plays upon our eyesight? – Shak.
8. To contend in a game; as, to play at cards or dice; to play for diversion; to play for money.
9. To practice a trick or deception. His mother played false with a smith. – Shak.
10. To perform on an instrument of music; as, to play on a flute, a violin or a harpsichord. Play, my friend, and charm the charmer. – Granville.
11. To move, or to move with alternate dilatation and contraction. The heart beats, the blood circulates, the lungs play. – Cheyne.
12. To operate; to act. The engines play against a fire. – Dryden.
13. To move irregularly; to wanton. Ev'n as the waving sedges play with wind. – Shak. The setting sun / Plays on their shining arms and burnish'd helmets. – Addison. All fame is foreign, but of true desert, / Plays round the head, but comes not to the heart. – Pope.
14. To act a part on the stage; to personate a character. A lord will hear you play to-night. – Shak.
15. To represent a standing character. Courts are theaters where some men play. – Donne.
16. To act in any particular character; as, to play the fool; to play the woman; to play the man. – Shak.
17. To move in any manner; to move one way and another; as any part of a machine.

1. To put in action or motion; as, to play cannon or a fire-engine.
2. To use an instrument of music; as, to play the flute or the organ. [Elliptical.] – Gay.
3. To act a sportive part or character. Nature here / Wanton'd as in her prime, and play'd at will / Her virgin fancies. – Milton.
4. To act or perform by representing a character; as, to play a comedy; to play the part of king Lear.
5. To act; to perform; as, to play our parts well on the stage of life.
6. To perform in contest for amusement or for a prize; as, to play a game at whist. To play off, to display; to show; to put in exercise; as, to play off tricks. To play on or upon, to deceive; to mock or to trifle with. #2. To give a fanciful turn to.

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,
   Had he thy reason, would he skip and play! Pope.

   And some, the darlings of their Lord,
   Play smiling with the flame and sword. Keble.

2. To put in action or motion; as, to play cannon upon a fortification; to play a trump.
   
   

   First Peace and Silence all disputes control,
   Then Order plays the soul. Herbert.

3. Amusement; sport; frolic; gambols.
4. The commonalty of ancient Rome who were citizens without the usual political rights; the plebeians; - - distinguished from the patricians.
5. To act with levity or thoughtlessness; to trifle; to be careless.
   
   

   "Nay," quod this monk, "I have no lust to pleye." Chaucer.

   Men are apt to play with their healths. Sir W. Temple.

6. To perform music upon; as, to play the flute or the organ.
7. Any exercise, or series of actions, intended for amusement or diversion; a game.
   
   

   John naturally loved rough play. Arbuthnot.

8. Hence, the common people; the populace; -- construed as a pl.
9. To contend, or take part, in a game; as, to play ball; hence, to gamble; as, he played for heavy stakes.
10. To perform, as a piece of music, on an instrument; as, to play a waltz on the violin.
11. 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.
12. 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.

13. To bring into sportive or wanton action; to exhibit in action; to execute; as, to play tricks.
    
    

    Nature here
    Wantoned as in her prime, and played at will
    Her virgin fancies. Milton.

14. Action; use; employment; exercise; practice; as, fair play; sword play; a play of wit.
    
    
    "The next who comes in play." Dryden.
15. To act; to behave; to practice deception.
    
    

    His mother played false with a smith. Shak.

16. 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.

17. 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.

18. 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.

19. 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.
20. The representation or exhibition of a comedy or tragedy; as, he attends ever play.
21. To move gayly; to wanton; to disport.
    
    

    Even as the waving sedges play with wind. Shak.

    The setting sun
    Plays on their shining arms and burnished helmets. Addison.

    All fame is foreign but of true desert,
    Plays round the head, but comes not to the heart. Pope.

22. 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.]

23. Performance on an instrument of music.
24. 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?
    Or is it fantasy that plays upon our eyesight. Shak.

    (b) To use in a droll manner; to give a droll expression or application to; as, to play upon words.

25. Motion; movement, regular or irregular; as, the play of a wheel or piston; hence, also, room for motion; free and easy action.
    
    
    "To give them play, front and rear." Milton.

    The joints are let exactly into one another, that they have no play between them. Moxon.

26. 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,
    Will hold the foe in play. Macaulay.