Bill wanted to beat me up and so did Bob. I did some fast talking, and they ended up fighting with each other. I really played Bill off against Bob.
•The president played the House off against the Senate and ended up getting his own way.
Dictionary of American idioms. 2013.
play — 1 /pleI/ verb 1 CHILDREN (I, T) when children play, they do things that they enjoy, often together or with toys: The children ran off to play on the beach. | play sth: The boys were playing soldiers. | I don t want to play that game! (+ with):… … Longman dictionary of contemporary English
play — play1 W1S1 [pleı] v ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ 1¦(children)¦ 2¦(sports/games)¦ 3¦(music)¦ 4¦(radio/cd etc)¦ 5¦(theatre/film)¦ 6 play a part/role 7 play ball 8¦(pretend)¦ 9¦(behave)¦ 10 play games … Dictionary of contemporary English
play — play1 [ pleı ] verb *** ▸ 1 take part in sport/game ▸ 2 make music/sound ▸ 3 have part in play, etc. ▸ 4 when children have fun ▸ 5 when light moves ▸ + PHRASES 1. ) intransitive or transitive to take part in a sport or game: The girls are out… … Usage of the words and phrases in modern English
play */*/*/ — I UK [pleɪ] / US verb Word forms play : present tense I/you/we/they play he/she/it plays present participle playing past tense played past participle played 1) [intransitive/transitive] to take part in a sport or game The children were playing… … English dictionary
Helpless (play) — Helpless is a play by Dusty Hughes which premièred at the Donmar Warehouse, London on March 2, 2000. It is set in England before, during, and after the 1997 general elections, which resulted in New Labour s landslide victory and in Tony Blair… … Wikipedia
Blood Relations (play) — Blood Relations is a psychological murder mystery by Sharon Pollock. The play is based on historical fact and speculation surrounding the life of Lizzie Borden and the murders of her father and stepmother, crimes with which Borden was charged.… … Wikipedia
Happy Days (play) — Happy Days is a play in two acts, written in English, by Samuel Beckett. He began the play on 8th October 1960 [Knowlson, J., Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett (London: Bloomsbury, 1996), p 475] and it was completed on 14th May 1961.… … Wikipedia
Cyrano de Bergerac (play) — Cyrano de Bergerac Cyrano de Bergerac, the man whom the play is named for and based upon. Written by Edmond Rostand Characters … Wikipedia
The Birds (play) — The Birds Rider and birds Laconian calyx ca. 540 B.C. The Dramatis Personae in ancient comedy depends on interpretation of textual evidence.[1] This list is developed from D.Barrett s translation.[2 … Wikipedia
Spider's Web (play) — Infobox Play name = Spider s Web image size = writer = Agatha Christie date of premiere = September 27, 1954 Country of Origin = United Kingdom original language = English Spider s Web is a 1954 play by crime writer Agatha Christie. BackgroundIt… … Wikipedia
Charity (play) — Millais contemporary painting The North West Passage (1874) Charity is a drama in four acts by W. S. Gilbert that explores the issue of a woman who had lived with a man as his wife without ever having married. The play analyses and critiques the… … Wikipedia
