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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Play \Play\, verb (used without an object) [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.
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 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.
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 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.
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? 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.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
played
adjective: (of games) engaged in; "the loosely played game"
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Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |