Emily Dickinson Lexicon
Dictionary: PLAU-SI-BIL'I-TY – PLAY'PLEAS-URE
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PLAU-SI-BIL'I-TY, n. [s as z. See Plausible.]
Speciousness; superficial appearance of right. – Swift.
PLAUS'I-BLE, a. [s as z. L. plausibilis, from plaudo, to clap hands in token of approbation; W. bloez, an outcry; bloeziaw, to shout; blozest, applause, acclamation; Ir. bladh, blaodh; from the root of Gr. κλειω, L. laus, laudo, Eng. loud.]
- That may be applauded; that may gain favor or approbation; hence, superficially pleasing; apparently right; specious; popular; as, a plausible argument; a plausible pretext; a plausible doctrine.
- Using specious arguments or discourse; as, a plausible man.
PLAUS'I-BLE-NESS, n.
Speciousness; show of right or propriety; as, the plausibleness of Arminianism. – Sanderson.
PLAUS'I-BLY, adv.
With fair show; speciously; in a manner adapted to gain favor or approbation. They could talk plausibly about what they did not understand. – Collier.
PLAUS'IVE, a.
- Applauding; manifesting praise.
- Plausible. – Shak.
PLAY, n.
- Any exercise or series of actions intended for pleasure, amusement or diversion, as at cricket or quoit, or at blind man's buff.
- Amusement; sport; frolick; gambols. – Spenser. Two gentle fawns at play. – Milton.
- Game; gaming; practice of contending for victory, for amusement or for a prize, as at dice, cards or billiards.
- Practice in any contest; as, sword-play. He was resolved not to speak distinctly, knowing his best play to be in the dark. – Tillotson. John naturally loved rough play. – Arbuthnot.
- Action; use: employment; office. But justifies the next who comes in play. – Dryden.
- Practice; action; manner of acting in contest or negotiation; as, fair play; foul play.
- A dramatic composition; a comedy or tragedy; a composition in which characters are represented by dialogue and action. A play ought to be a just image of human nature. – Dryden.
- Representation or exhibition of a comedy or tragedy; as, to be at the play. He attends every play.
- Performance on an instrument of music.
- Motion; movement, regular or irregular; as, the play of a wheel or piston.
- State of agitation or discussion. Many have been sav'd, and many may, / Who never heard this question brought in play. – Dryden.
- Room for motion. The joints are let exactly into one another, that they have no play between them. – Moxon.
- Liberty of acting; room for enlargement or display; scope; as, to give full play to mirth. Let the genius have free play.
PLAY, v.i. [Sax. plegan, plegian, to play, to joke, to perform on an instrument of music, to move or vibrate, to clap or applaud, to deride or make sport of; pleggan, to ply or bend to, or to lean or lie on; geplægan, to play, and to dance or leap. The Sw. leka, Dan. leger, to play, are the same word without a prefix, and in the northern counties of England, leka is used as it is in Sweden. This word seems to be formed on the same root as lay.]
- To use any exercise for pleasure or recreation; to do something not as a task or for profit, but for amusement; as, to play at cricket. The people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play. – Exod. xxxii.
- To sport; to frolick; to frisk. The lamb thy riot dooms to bleed to day, / Had he thy reason, would he skip and play? – Pope.
- To toy; to act with levity. – Milton.
- To trifle; to act wantonly and thoughtlessly. Men are apt to play with their healths and their lives as they do with their clothes. – Temple.
- To do something fanciful; to give a fanciful turn to; as to play upon words. – Shak.
- To make sport, or practice sarcastic merriment. I would make use of it rather to play upon those I despise, than trifle with those I love. – Pope.
- To mock; to practice illusion. Art thou alive, / Or is it fancy plays upon our eyesight? – Shak.
- To contend in a game; as, to play at cards or dice; to play for diversion; to play for money.
- To practice a trick or deception. His mother played false with a smith. – Shak.
- To perform on an instrument of music; as, to play on a flute, a violin or a harpsichord. Play, my friend, and charm the charmer. – Granville.
- To move, or to move with alternate dilatation and contraction. The heart beats, the blood circulates, the lungs play. – Cheyne.
- To operate; to act. The engines play against a fire. – Dryden.
- To move irregularly; to wanton. Ev'n as the waving sedges play with wind. – Shak. The setting sun / Plays on their shining arms and burnish'd helmets. – Addison. All fame is foreign, but of true desert, / Plays round the head, but comes not to the heart. – Pope.
- To act a part on the stage; to personate a character. A lord will hear you play to-night. – Shak.
- To represent a standing character. Courts are theaters where some men play. – Donne.
- To act in any particular character; as, to play the fool; to play the woman; to play the man. – Shak.
- To move in any manner; to move one way and another; as any part of a machine.
PLAY, v.t.
- To put in action or motion; as, to play cannon or a fire-engine.
- To use an instrument of music; as, to play the flute or the organ. [Elliptical.] – Gay.
- To act a sportive part or character. Nature here / Wanton'd as in her prime, and play'd at will / Her virgin fancies. – Milton.
- To act or perform by representing a character; as, to play a comedy; to play the part of king Lear.
- To act; to perform; as, to play our parts well on the stage of life.
- To perform in contest for amusement or for a prize; as, to play a game at whist. To play off, to display; to show; to put in exercise; as, to play off tricks. To play on or upon, to deceive; to mock or to trifle with. #2. To give a fanciful turn to.
PLAY'BILL, n.
A printed advertisement of a play, with the parts assigned to the actors.
PLAY'BOOK, n.
A book of dramatic compositions.
PLAY'-DAY, or PLAY'ING-DAY, n.
A day given to play or diversion; a day exempt from work. – Swift.
PLAY'DEBT, n.
A debt contracted by gaming. – Arbuthnot.
PLAY'ED, pp.
Acted; performed; put in motion.
PLAY'ER, n.
- One who plays in any game or sport.
- An idler. – Shak.
- An actor of dramatic scenes; one whose occupation is to imitate characters on the stage. – Bacon.
- A mimic. – Dryden.
- One who performs on an instrument of music.
- A gamester.
- One that acts a part in a certain manner. – Carew.
PLAY'FEL-LOW, n.
A companion in amusements or sports. – Sidney.
PLAY'FUL, a.
- Sportive, given to levity; as, a playful child. – Spectator.
- Indulging a sportive fancy; as, a playful genius.
PLAY'FUL-LY, adv.
In a sportive manner.
PLAY'FUL-NESS, n.
Sportiveness.
PLAY'GAME, n.
Play of children. – Locke.
PLAY'GO-ER, n.
One who frequents plays.
PLAY'GO-ING, a.
Frequenting the exhibitions of the stage.
PLAY'HOUSE, n.
A house appropriated to the exhibition of dramatic compositions; a theater. – Pope. Dryden.
PLAY'ING, ppr.
Acting; performing; sporting.
PLAY'MATE, n.
A playfellow; a companion in diversions. – More.
PLAY'PLEAS-URE, n.
Idle amusement. [Not used.] – Bacon.