play

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   activity by children that is guided more by imagination than by fixed rules

   Freud believed in the utility of play to a small child

2. 2
   noun

   gay or light-hearted recreational activity for diversion or amusement

   it was all done in play

3. 3
   noun

   a preset plan of action in team sports

   The coach drew up the plays for the team.

4. 4
   noun

   an attempt to get something

   they made a futile play for power

5. 5
   noun

   utilization or exercise

   the play of the imagination

6. 6
   noun

   movement or space for movement

   there was too much play in the steering wheel

7. 7
   noun

   a dramatic work intended for performance by actors on a stage

   The playwright wrote several plays but only one was produced on Broadway.

8. 8
   noun

   a theatrical performance of a drama

   the play lasted two hours

Etymology

From Middle English pleyen, playen, pleȝen, plæien, also Middle English plaȝen, plawen (compare English plaw), from Old English pleġan, pleoġan, plæġan, and Old English plegian, pleagian, plagian (“to play, exercise, etc.”), from Proto-West Germanic *plehan (“to care about, be concerned with”) and Proto-West Germanic *plegōn (“to engage, move”), of uncertain origin. cognates and related terms Cognate with Scots play (“to act or move briskly, cause to move, stir”), Saterland Frisian pleegje (“to look after, care for, maintain”), West Frisian pleegje, pliigje (“to commit, perform, bedrive”), Mid…