play

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A story written to be performed by actors on a stage.

   The playwright wrote several plays, but only one reached Broadway.

2. 2
   noun

   Activity done for fun and enjoyment, especially by children.

   It was all done in play.

3. 3
   noun

   A planned move or action in a team sport.

   The coach drew up the plays for the team.

4. 4
   noun

   A small amount of free movement in something.

   There was too much play in the steering wheel.

5. 5
   verb

   to take part in a game or an activity for enjoyment

   The children play chess after school.

Multiword verbs with play

• play around Phrasal verb A1

  to experiment with something casually or without an expert approach

• play off against Phrasal-prepositional verb A1

  to set people or groups against one another to gain an advantage

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Play comes from Old English plegan or plegian, “to exercise,” and the related noun plega, “brisk movement or activity.” Plega could also denote a dramatic performance, anticipating the theatrical sense of play, while compounds such as swordplay preserve the older idea of brisk activity.

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…

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External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary