2. To perform music upon; as, to play the flute or the organ.
3. To perform, as a piece of music, on an instrument; as, to play a waltz on the violin.
4. 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. 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.
Thou canst play the rational if thou wilt.
Sir W. Scott. 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.
7. 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.]
Play
(Play), n.
1. Amusement; sport; frolic; gambols.
2. Any exercise, or series of actions, intended for amusement or diversion; a game.
John naturally loved rough play.
Arbuthnot. 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.
4. Action; use; employment; exercise; practice; as, fair play; sword play; a play of wit. "The next who comes
in play." Dryden.
5. 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. 6. The representation or exhibition of a comedy or tragedy; as, he attends ever play.
7. Performance on an instrument of music.
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.
The joints are let exactly into one another, that they have no play between them.
Moxon. 9. 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
