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Play off   /pleɪ ɔf/   Listen
verb
Play  v. t.  
1.
To put in action or motion; as, to play cannon upon a fortification; to play a trump. "First Peace and Silence all disputes control, Then Order plays the soul."
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."
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."
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 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.)


Play  v. i.  (past & past part. played; pres. part. playing)  
1.
To engage in sport or lively recreation; to exercise for the sake of amusement; to frolic; to spot. "As Cannace was playing in her walk." "The lamb thy riot dooms to bleed to-day, Had he thy reason, would he skip and play!" "And some, the darlings of their Lord, Play smiling with the flame and sword."
2.
To act with levity or thoughtlessness; to trifle; to be careless. ""Nay," quod this monk, "I have no lust to pleye."" "Men are apt to play with their healths."
3.
To contend, or take part, in a game; as, to play ball; hence, to gamble; as, he played for heavy stakes.
4.
To perform on an instrument of music; as, to play on a flute. "One that... can play well on an instrument." "Play, my friend, and charm the charmer."
5.
To act; to behave; to practice deception. "His mother played false with a smith."
6.
To move in any manner; especially, to move regularly with alternate or reciprocating motion; to operate; to act; as, the fountain plays. "The heart beats, the blood circulates, the lungs play."
7.
To move gayly; to wanton; to disport. "Even as the waving sedges play with wind." "The setting sun Plays on their shining arms and burnished helmets." "All fame is foreign but of true desert, Plays round the head, but comes not to the heart."
8.
To act on the stage; to personate a character. "A lord will hear your play to-night." "Courts are theaters where some men play."
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. "Art thou alive? Or is it fantasy that plays upon our eyesight."
(b)
To use in a droll manner; to give a droll expression or application to; as, to play upon words.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Play off" Quotes from Famous Books



... the war will result in no easy victory for democracy, for the system of caste and bureaucracy is very likely to become fixed. Democracy therefore must be worked for, and to that end there must be a union of all types of reformers. We must play off the special interests against one another, says Hobson, work for industrial democracy, educate the people. On the other hand there is that danger from the rising of the masses which Weyl heralds. ...
— The Psychology of Nations - A Contribution to the Philosophy of History • G.E. Partridge
... Wait till I explain. I'll give you twenty-five dollars, Garwood. You can do a whole lot with twenty-five dollars. And that's a mighty generous offer. All you've got to do is to play off for a couple of days. Tomorrow you could be kind of sick and not able to play. No one would think anything about it, and you can bet I wouldn't breathe a word of ...
— The New Boy at Hilltop • Ralph Henry Barbour
... began to be played upon; Frank, however, like a guardian angel, was always at hand to advise or defend him, as the case might be, and as both, in a physical contest, were able and willing to fight their own battles, we need not say that in a short time their fellow-workmen ceased to play off their pranks upon either of them. Everything forthwith passed very smoothly; Art's love for Margaret Murray was like an apple of gold in his heart, a secret treasure of which the world knew nothing; they saw each other at least once a month, when their vows were ...
— Phelim O'toole's Courtship and Other Stories • William Carleton
... be settled before Philip left England, and he must have faced parliament too, and, if possible, have been crowned. If he went now, he would never come back; let him court the people advised the keen Renard; let him play off the people against the lords; there was ill blood between the rich and poor, let him ...
— The Reign of Mary Tudor • James Anthony Froude
... marchioness, full of fun and frolic, whose office required that she should continue standing behind the queen, being tired of the ceremony, seated herself upon the floor, and, concealed behind the fence of the enormous hoops of the attendant ladies, began to play off all imaginable pranks with the ladies' hoops, and with the muscles of her own face, the contrast between these childish frolics and the stately dignity of the old dowagers so disconcerted the fun-loving Maria, that, notwithstanding ...
— Maria Antoinette - Makers of History • John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot) Abbott


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