Play v. i. [imp. & p. p. Played p. pr. & vb. n. 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.   --Chaucer.
 The lamb thy riot dooms to bleed to-day,
 Had he thy reason, would he skip and play!   --Pope.
 And some, the darlings of their Lord,
 Play smiling with the flame and sword.   --Keble.
 2. To act with levity or thoughtlessness; to trifle; to be careless.
    =\“Nay,” quod this monk, “I have no lust to pleye.”\=   --Chaucer.
    Men are apt to play with their healths.   --Sir W. Temple.
 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.   --Ezek. xxxiii. 32.
    Play, my friend, and charm the charmer.   --Granville.
 5. To act; to behave; to practice deception.
    His mother played false with a smith.   --Shak.
 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.   --Cheyne.
 7. To move gayly; to wanton; to disport.
    Even as the waving sedges play with wind.   --Shak.
 The setting sun
 Plays on their shining arms and burnished helmets.   --Addison.
 All fame is foreign but of true desert,
 Plays round the head, but comes not to the heart.   --Pope.
 8. To act on the stage; to personate a character.
    A lord will hear your play to-night.   --Shak.
    Courts are theaters where some men play.   --Donne.
 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.   --Shak.
 (b) To use in a droll manner; to give a droll expression or application to; as, to play upon words.
 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.   --Herbert.
 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.   --Milton.
 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.   --Sir W. Scott.
 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.]