Play

To engage in sport or lively recreation; to exercise for the sake of amusement; to frolic; to spot.

To act with levity or thoughtlessness; to trifle; to be careless.

To contend, or take part, in a game; as, to play ball; hence, to gamble; as, he played for heavy stakes.

To perform on an instrument of music; as, to play on a flute.

To act; to behave; to practice deception.

To move in any manner; especially, to move regularly with alternate or reciprocating motion; to operate; to act; as, the fountain plays.

To move gayly; to wanton; to disport.

To act on the stage; to personate a character.

To put in action or motion; as, to play cannon upon a fortification; to play a trump.

To perform music upon; as, to play the flute or the organ.

To perform, as a piece of music, on an instrument; as, to play a waltz on the violin.

To bring into sportive or wanton action; to exhibit in action; to execute; as, to play tricks.

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.

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.

To keep in play, as a hooked fish, in order to land it.

Amusement; sport; frolic; gambols.

Any exercise, or series of actions, intended for amusement or diversion; a game.

The act or practice of contending for victory, amusement, or a prize, as at dice, cards, or billiards; gaming; as, to lose a fortune in play.

Action; use; employment; exercise; practice; as, fair play; sword play; a play of wit.

A dramatic composition; a comedy or tragedy; a composition in which characters are represented by dialogue and action.

The representation or exhibition of a comedy or tragedy; as, he attends ever play.

Performance on an instrument of music.

Motion; movement, regular or irregular; as, the play of a wheel or piston; hence, also, room for motion; free and easy action.

Hence, liberty of acting; room for enlargement or display; scope; as, to give full play to mirth.

the act of playing for stakes in the hope of winning (including the payment of a price for a chance to win a prize); "his gambling cost him a fortune"; "there was heavy play at the blackjack table"

a dramatic work intended for performance by actors on a stage; "he wrote several plays but only one was produced on Broadway"

perform on a stage or theater; "She acts in this play"; "He acted in ‘Julius Caesar’"; "I played in ‘A Christmas Carol’"

movement or space for movement; "there was too much play in the steering wheel"

the removal of constraints; "he gave free rein to his impulses"; "they gave full play to the artist's talent"

pretend to have certain qualities or state of mind; "He acted the idiot"; "She plays deaf when the news are bad"

play a role or part; "Gielgud played Hamlet"; "She wants to act Lady Macbeth, but she is too young for the role"; "She played the servant to her husband's master"