GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

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Found 3 definitions 

  1.       

    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. √28. Cf. Plight, n.]
    1. To engage in sport or lively recreation; to exercise for the sake of amusement; to frolic; to spot.
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      As Cannace was playing in her walk.
      Chaucer.

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      The lamb thy riot dooms to bleed to-day,
      Had he thy reason, would he skip and play!
      Pope.

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

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    2. To act with levity or thoughtlessness; to trifle; to be careless.
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      “Nay,” quod this monk, “I have no lust to pleye.”
      Chaucer.

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

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    3. To contend, or take part, in a game; as, to play ball; hence, to gamble; as, he played for heavy stakes.
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    4. To perform on an instrument of music; as, to play on a flute.
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      One that . . . can play well on an instrument.
      Ezek. xxxiii. 32.

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      Play, my friend, and charm the charmer.
      Granville.

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    5. To act; to behave; to practice deception.
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      His mother played false with a smith.
      Shak.

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    6. To move in any manner; especially, to move regularly with alternate or reciprocating motion; to operate; to act; as, the fountain plays.
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      The heart beats, the blood circulates, the lungs play.
      Cheyne.

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    7. To move gayly; to wanton; to disport.
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      Even as the waving sedges play with wind.
      Shak.

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

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

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    8. To act on the stage; to personate a character.
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      A lord will hear your play to-night.
      Shak.

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      Courts are theaters where some men play.
      Donne.

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      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.
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      Art thou alive?
      Or is it fantasy that plays upon our eyesight.
      Shak.

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      (b) To use in a droll manner; to give a droll expression or application to; as, to play upon words. 
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  2.       

    Play, v. t.
    1. To put in action or motion; as, to play cannon upon a fortification; to play a trump.
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      First Peace and Silence all disputes control,
      Then Order plays the soul.
      Herbert.

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    2. To perform music upon; as, to play the flute or the organ.
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    3. To perform, as a piece of music, on an instrument; as, to play a waltz on the violin.
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    4. To bring into sportive or wanton action; to exhibit in action; to execute; as, to play tricks.
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      Nature here
      Wantoned as in her prime, and played at will
      Her virgin fancies.
      Milton.

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    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.
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      Thou canst play the rational if thou wilt.
      Sir W. Scott.

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    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.
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    7. To keep in play, as a hooked fish, in order to land it.
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      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.]
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  3.       

    Play, n.
    1. Amusement; sport; frolic; gambols.
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    2. Any exercise, or series of actions, intended for amusement or diversion; a game.
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      John naturally loved rough play.
      Arbuthnot.

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    3. 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.
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    4. Action; use; employment; exercise; practice; as, fair play; sword play; a play of wit. “The next who comes in play.”
      Dryden.

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    5. A dramatic composition; a comedy or tragedy; a composition in which characters are represented by dialogue and action.
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      A play ought to be a just image of human nature.
      Dryden.

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    6. The representation or exhibition of a comedy or tragedy; as, he attends ever play.
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    7. Performance on an instrument of music.
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    8. 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.

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

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    9. Hence, liberty of acting; room for enlargement or display; scope; as, to give full play to mirth.
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      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. 
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      I, with two more to help me,
      Will hold the foe in play.
      Macaulay.

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