| slovo | definícia |
play off
(encz) | play off, v: |
play off
(wn) | play off
v 1: set into opposition or rivalry; "let them match their best
athletes against ours"; "pit a chess player against the
Russian champion"; "He plays his two children off against
each other" [syn: pit, oppose, match, play off] |
| | podobné slovo | definícia |
To play off
(gcide) | 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.
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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.
[1913 Webster]Play \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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