play 
Ami when Mt playi come forth, think they can flout them, 
With Mying he wu a year about then). 
B. Jonton, Volpone, Prol. 
The flrat pta<t at thii kind (miracle-play) specified by 
name, I believe, U called "St. Catherine," and, according 
to Matthew Paris, wu written by Ocofrey, a Norman, ufu-r 
ward, abbot of Saint A 1 bans. 
Strvtt, Sporti and Pastimes, p. 227. 
10. Representation or exhibition of a comedy, 
tragedy, or other form of drama; dramatic per- 
formance. 
Wherein III catch the conscience of the king 
The play 's the thing 
science of the king. 
Shak., Hamlet, if. 2. 633. 
For a ploy is still an imitation of nature ; we know we 
are to he deceived, and we desire to be so. 
Dryden, Essay on Dram. Poesy. 
The King went to the play last night (Drury Lane) for 
the first time, the Dukes of York and Clarence and a great 
suite with him. OreciUe, Memoirs, Feb. 7, 1821. 
I am Just come from the play at Richmond. 
Walpolt, Letters, II. 126. 
11. Style or manner of playing; style of per- 
forming or executing a play or game ; execu- 
tion; performance; skill: as, he made clever 
play with the foils. 
There were Billiard Rooms, where a young man from 
the country who prided himself upon his play could get 
very prettily handled. W. llctant, Titty Years Ago, p. 135. 
12. Manner of acting or dealing, or of treating 
another: as, fair play; foul play. 
Good my friends, consider 
Yon are my guests ; do me no foul play, friends. 
Shak., Lear, HL 7. SL 
13. A country wake. Balliwell. [Prov. Eng.] 
A play upon words, punning ; a pun. Benefit play. 
n y*jakj UJI/VU, w UAUD, i/iiii "i"B , n|jii(i. OGUvmi JfHa,y , ' i.'ii'i". i i I.M i m- u. 
&7?l8S&^&^g*% Playfeert, . [Also improp. playpJ, 
that can be legitimately played ; not dead : said of the playfere ; < play* + Jeer'-.] A play 
ball : the opposite of out of play. Out of play, in foot- 
ball and some other games, dead : the opposite of in play. 
-Flay of colors, an appearance of several prismatic col- 
ors In quick succession on the surface of an object, as on 
a diamond. TO hold In Play, to keep occupied or en- 
gaged ; hold the attention of. 
1, with two more to help me, 
Will hold the foe in play. 
Macaulay, Horatius. 
To make good Play, to proceed or take action with 
spirit or advantage. =Byn. 4. Activity, exercise. 6. Pas- 
time. 
play 2 t (pla), v. A variant otplaw"*. 
playable (pla'a-bl), o. [<playl + -dble.] Ca- 
pable of being played: as, a ball touching the 
balk-line is not playable. 
play-acting (pla'sk'ting), H. Theatrical per- 
formance ; stage-playing. 
We read of fireworks and bonfires and prize-fights ; of 
cricket and cards, and tavern-dinners ; and unsuccessful 
shooting, and Incessant play-going and play-acting. 
4540 
sports, pastimes, or amusements of any kind. (l>) An Idler; 
a trifler. 
Saints In your Injuries, devils being offended, 
Player* In your housewifery. 
Shak., Othello, II. 1. 113. 
(c) A contestant In a game or match of any kind ; also, 
one who Is In the habit of playing, or who is skilled In, a 
particular game: as, a chess player; a billiard-player. 
If two play, then each one covers two divisions, the one 
nearest to the wall being the Inhand, the other one the 
outhand player. Tribune Book of Sport*, p. 128. 
(if) A dramatic performer ; an actor ; one who enacts char- 
acters on the stage. 
The propertle and condition of Player* is sometymes 
to haue greate abundance, and at other times to suffer 
greate lacke. 
Guevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1577X p. 318. 
All the world 's a stage, 
And all the men and women merely playert. 
Shot., As you Like it, II. 7. 140. 
To give a poor soul a farthing at that door where you 
give a player a shilling Is not equal dealing, for this Is to 
give God the refuse of the wheat. Donne, Sermons, vili. 
The player feigns for no other end but to divert or in- 
struct you. Steele, Spectator, No. 870. 
() One who performs on an Instrument of music. 
Seek out a man who Is a cunning player on an harp. 
1 Sam. xvi. 16. 
Then playeri* played, and songsters song, 
To gled the inirrie host. 
Battle of Balrinnet (Child's Ballads, VII. 220). 
player ly(pla'er-li), a. [< player + -ly 1 .] flayer- 
like. 
All which, together with the satyricall invectines of 
Juuenall and others against this infamous playerlie em- 
peror, are a sufficient euldence. 
Prynne, Hlstrlo-Mastix, II. II. 1. 
eer; < ME. 
playfellow. 
Ponerte & pacyence are nedes play -fere*. 
Alliterative Poem* (ed. MorrisX HI. 45. 
Learn what maids have been her companions and play- 
pheert. Fletcher(and another), Two Noble Kinsmen, iv. 3. 
She was wont to call him her dear son, 
Her little play Jeer, and her pretty bun. 
Drayton, Moon-Calf. 
The minion of delight, falre from thy birth, 
Adonis play-pheere, and the pride of earth. 
Ueymod, Fair Maid of the Exchange (Works, ed. Pearson, 
[II. 13> 
playfellow (pla'fel'o), n. A companion in 
amusements or sports. 
Heart's discontent and sour affliction 
plea 
Be playfelloics to keep you company ! 
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., ill. 2. 301. 
Danger's my playfellow ; 
Since I was a man, 't has been my best companion. 
Fletcher, Wife for a Month, v. 3. 
playful (pla'ful), a. 
actor. 
If any playactor! or spectators think themselves In- 
jured by any censure I have past upon them. Prynne. 
play-actorism (pla'ak'tor-izm), . [< play-ac- 
tor + -ism.'] The profession, habits, manner, 
ME.pleiful; 
Contemporary Ken., LVI. 812. -/i</.] 1. Full of play; sportive; frolicsome; 
play-actor (pla'ak'tor), H. A stage-player; an frisky: as, ^playful child. 
The playful children Just let loose from school. 
(ioldmiith, Deserted Village, 1. 120. 
2. Showing a sportive fancy or sprightly hu- 
mor; pleasantly jocular: as, a playful remark ; 
, a playful style ; playful attentions. 
style, etc., of a play-actor; a stilted, theatri- playfully (pla'ful-i),rfr. In a playful manner; 
cal, affected style or manner; histrionism. sportively. 
Sterling's view of the Pope, as seen in these his gala playfulness (pla'ful-nes), n. The quality or 
days, doing his big playnctoriinn under God's earnest sky, state of being playful ; sportiveness. 
was much more substantial to me than his studies In the - ... . ., 
picture galleries. Carlyle, Sterling, II. 7. (Dane*.) ' think the word that Cowper was at a loss for was pfay- 
I ui i , i-/t-i\ fulnett, the most delightful ingredient In letters, for Gray 
playbill (pla bil), w. A bill or placard dis- can hardly be said to have had humor In the deeper sense 
played as an advertisement of a l)lay, with or of the word. Lowell, New Princeton Rev., I. 167. 
without the parts assigned to the actors; a playgame (pla'gam), n. Sport; child's play ; a 
bill of the play; a program. play of children. 
playing-passage (pla'ing-pas'aj), n. Tho gal- 
lery of the bower-bird. See cut under bower- 
bird. 
The Bower-birds, by tastefully ornamenting ttielr p&iy- 
ing-panaget with gayly-colored objects, . . . offer addi- 
tional evidence that they possess a sense of beauty. 
Darwin, Descent of Man, L 61. 
playless (pla'les), a. [< play* + -lens.] With- 
out play; not playing. Coleridge. [Rare.] 
play-lomet, . [ME., < play, exercise, as sword- 
play, + lome, implement: see loom 1 .'] A wea- 
pon. 
Go reche me my playlome, 
And I salle go to hy in sone ; 
Hym were better hafe bene at Rome, 
So ever mote I thryfe ! 
Perceval, 2013. (Ilallivell.) 
play-maker (pla'ma'ker), . A writer of play*, 
play-maret, . Same as liobby-liorse, 1. 
This exhibition, the play-mare of Scotland, stood high 
among holyday gambols. It must be carefully separated 
from the wooden chargers of our nurseries. It gives rise 
to Hamlet's ejaculation 
"But oh, but oh, the hobby-horse Is forgot!" 
Scott, Abbot, xiv., note. 
playmate (pla'mat), H. A playfellow; a com- 
panion in play or amusement. 
Patience, dlscreetnesse, and benlgnitie, . . . 
These be the lovely liaimiates of pure veritie. 
Dr. //. More, Psychathanasia, III. III. 58. 
Nature does not like to be observed, and likes that we 
should be her fools and playmate*. Emerson, Experience. 
playnet. A Middle English form of plain 1 and 
plain%. 
playntet, . A Middle English form of plaint. 
playock(pla'gk), n. [< playi + -ock.] A play- 
thing; a toy. [Scotch.] 
play-pleasuret (pla'plezh/ur), . Idle amuse- 
ment ; mock pleasure ; pretended pleasure. 
[Rare.] 
He taketh a kind of play-pleature in looking upon the 
fortunes of others. Bacon, Envy (ed. 1887). 
play-right (pla'rit), n. The proprietary right 
of the author of a dramatic or musical compo- 
sition to its exclusive production or perform- 
ance, as distinguished from the right to multi- 
ply copies by printing. See stage-right. 
playset, " An obsolete form of plaice. 
playsome (pla'sum), a. [< playi + -sonic.] 
Playful; wanton. 
All pleasant folk, well-minded, malicious, and plaiitome. 
SheUon, tr. of Don Quixote, HI. 3. (Latham.) 
playsomeness (pla'sum-nes), n. The quality 
of being playsome; playfulness; wantonness; 
sportiveness. 
playstowt (pla'sto), n. [Also pin/stoic, cor- 
ruptiy plestor ; < ME. 'pleystow, < AS.plegstow, 
a place for play, a wrestling-place, gymna- 
sium, palestra, < plena, play, + stow, place.] A 
wrestling-place. [Prov. Eng.] 
playtet, An obsolete form of plait. 
playtent, '. t. To plait; fold. 
plaything (pla'thing), . A toy ; anything that 
serves to amuse. 
A child knows his nurse, and by degrees the plaything* 
of a little more advanced age. Locke. 
playtime (pla'tim), n. Time for playing; time 
devoted to or set aside for amusement. 
t'pon festivals and playtime* they should exercise them- 
selves in the fields by riding, leaping, fencing, mustering, 
and training. Cowley, The School. 
Nicholas found himself poring with the utmost interest 
over a ,arge pla 
play-book (pla'buk ), w. 1. A book containing 
material for amusement or pastime ; a picture- 
book or book of games for children. 
Liberty alone gives the true relish to their ordinary 
playwright (pla'rit;, n. 
plays for the stage. 
A writer or adapter of 
' ~" " ^.fcburney. 
' 
Nor Is It without reluctance that we name him IGrill- 
parzer) under this head of plaifirrightt, and not under that 
of dramatists, which he aspires to. 
Carlyle, German Playwrights. 
play-writer (pla'ri'ter), n. One who writes 
.. 
There was compiled and printed "A Kay Book for Chil- i j / ,-/ Jx . ' 
dren, to allure them to read as soon as they can speak Playground (pla ground), M. A piece of ground 
plain." Athlon, Social Life In Reign of Queen Anne, l. 12. set apart for open-air recreation; especially, 
2. A book of plays or dramatic compositions. 
I wonld have them (women] well read, but In scripture 
and goode bookes, not In playbootei and love-bookes. 
Quoted In The Atlantic, LXIV. 622. 
That ridiculous passion, which has no being but In play- 
tub and romances. Sw\ft. 
play-day (pla'da), n. A day given to pastime 
or diversion ; a day exempt from work ; a holi- 
day. 
Uvlus Drusus said of himself, he never bad any play- 
day* or days of quiet when he was a boy. 
Jer. Taylor, Holy Dying, I. 4. 
The soul'H play-day Is always the devil's working day; 
and the Idler tin- man. .-till the busier the tempter. 
South, Sermons, VI. x. 
player (pla'er), . [< ME. playere, < AS.plegere, 
a player (of a wrestler), < plegian, play: gee 
/'''/ 1 -] One who plays, (a) One who takes part In 
such a piece of ground connected with a school, 
etc. 
)layhouse (pla'hous), n. [< ME. "playhom, < 
AS. pleghus, a theater, < plega, play, + htis, 
house.] A house appropriated to dramatic 
performances ; a theater. 
These are the youths that thunder at apiayAotue. 
Shot., Hen. VIII., v. 4. 64. 
Is your playhoute an Inn, a gentleman can not see you 
without crumpling his taffeta cloak? 
Middleton, Spanish Gypsy, H. 1. 
His lordship's avocations as a statesman prevented him 
from attending the playhmur very often. 
Thaclreray, Pendennls, xlv. 
)laying-card (pla'ing-kiird), n. One of a pack 
of cards used for playing games; especially, 
one of a set composed of fifty-two cards, of four 
suits diamonds, hearts, spades, and clubs. 
plays ; a dramatist. 
plaza (pla'za), n. [8p., = It. 
> E. place: see place."] A public square or 
, = It. piazza = F. place, 
" 
open space surrounded by houses in a Spanish 
or Spanish-American town or city; a market- 
place in such a town: as, the Plaza of San 
Francisco. 
Overlooking the Plaza, . . . yon had before you, across 
the midst of the open space, the Parker House, famous as 
the first of California)! hotels. 
J. W. Palmer, The New and the Old, p. 70. 
plet, A Middle English form of plea. 
plea (pie), n. [< ME. plee, pie, play, plait, < 
OF. plait, plaid, plat, play, plet, plez, F. jiloxl 
= Pr. plait, plug = Sp. pleito = Pg. plrito, ]>n il 
= It. piato,<. MIj. plarilmn (also contr. />/<" inm. 
placdum, and, after Rom., i>lnitnm), n dci-n <, 
sentence, suit, plea, etc., L. an opinion, deter- 
mination, prescription, order, lit. 'that which 
is iilfiixing,' 'pleasure,' neut. of pliinlnx, \<\>. 
of placere, please: see /i/orv. , and cf. plm-n. 
