8. Motion; movement, regular or irregular; as, the play of a wheel or
piston; hence, also, room for motion; free and easy action. "To give
them play, front and rear." Milton.
The joints are let exactly into one another, that they have no play
between them.
Moxon.
9. Hence, liberty of acting; room for enlargement or display; scope;
as, to give full play to mirth.
Play actor, an actor of dramas. Prynne. -- Play debt, a gambling debt.
Arbuthnot. -- Play pleasure, idle amusement. [Obs.] Bacon. -- A play
upon words, the use of a word in such a way as to be capable of double
meaning; punning. -- Play of colors, prismatic variation of colors. --
To bring into play, To come into play, to bring or come into use or
exercise. -- To hold in play, to keep occupied or employed.
I, with two more to help me, Will hold the foe in play.
Macaulay.
<! p. 1098 !>
||Pla"ya (?), n. [Sp.] A beach; a strand; in the plains and deserts of
||Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, a broad, level spot, on which
||subsequently becomes dry by evaporation. Bartlett.
Play"bill` (?), n. A printed programme of a play, with the parts
assigned to the actors.
Play"book` (?), n. A book of dramatic compositions; a book of the play.
Swift.
Play"day` (?), n. A day given to play or diversion; a holiday. Swift.
Play"er (?), n. 1. One who plays, or amuses himself; one without
serious aims; an idler; a trifler. Shak.