play

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noun

1 activity done for fun

ADJECTIVE

▪ outdoor

▪ creative, imaginative, pretend

PLAY + NOUN

▪ area

▪ equipment

▪ house (usually playhouse)

▪ room (usually playroom)

▪ group (usually playgroup in BrE), scheme (BrE)

▪

The local council runs some good play schemes.

PREPOSITION

▪ at play

▪

Children spend hours at play.

▪ in play

▪

I only said it in play (= not seriously).

2 drama

ADJECTIVE

▪ one-act

▪ stage

▪ radio, television

▪ musical

▪ miracle, morality, mystery, nativity (esp. BrE), passion

▪

The children always perform a nativity play every Christmas.

▪ school

VERB + PLAY

▪ review

▪

The play is reviewed in most of today's papers.

PREPOSITION

▪ play about

▪

a play about teenage runaways

3 in sports

ADJECTIVE

▪ excellent, good

▪ bad, poor

▪ fair

▪ dangerous, dirty, foul, rough, violent

▪

He was sent off for foul play.

VERB + PLAY

▪ stop

▪

Rain stopped play 40 minutes into the match.

PREPOSITION

▪ in play

▪

The ball is still in play.

▪ out of play

▪

He kicked the ball out of play.

PHRASES

▪ at close of play, at start of play (in cricket)

▪

At close of play he had scored 38 not out.

4 (AmE) an action or move in a game

ADJECTIVE

▪ big

▪

A double play ended the inning and the Red Sox were up.

▪ final

▪

the final play of the first half

▪ defensive, offensive (both in American football)

▪ running (in American football)

▪ double, triple (both in baseball)

▪

There were ten double plays completed.

VERB + PLAY

▪ execute, make, run (in American football)

▪

the team's ability to execute a play

▪

He made several nice defensive plays.

▪

They ran 10 plays inside the 30 in the fourth quarter.

▪ call (in American football)

▪

The offensive coordinator has called 60 running plays and 44 passes.

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verb

1 of children

VERB + PLAY

▪ let sb

▪

The other children wouldn't let him play.

PREPOSITION

▪ at (BrE)

▪

Let's play at pirates!

▪ with

▪

The little girl was playing with her toys.

2 game/sport

ADVERB

▪ brilliantly, superbly, well

▪ badly, poorly

VERB + PLAY

▪ learn to

▪ teach sb to

▪ be difficult to, be easy to

▪ see sb, watch sb

PREPOSITION

▪ against

▪

These guys make the team very difficult to play against.

▪ at

▪

I've never played John at tennis.

▪ for

▪

He plays for the Chicago Bears.

▪ in

▪

She has played in every game this season.

▪ with

▪

She was playing cards with her mother.

3 music

ADVERB

▪ beautifully, brilliantly, excellently, superbly, well

▪ badly

▪ together

▪ live

▪

The band will be playing live in the studio.

VERB + PLAY

▪ learn to

▪

I'm learning to play sax.

▪ teach sb to

▪ be easy to, be difficult to

▪

a piece that is relatively easy to play

▪ hear sb

▪

Have you ever heard her play?

Play is used with these nouns as the subject: ↑actor, actress, ↑athlete, ↑band, ↑footballer, ↑fountain, ↑golfer, ↑music, ↑musician, ↑orchestra, ↑radio, ↑side, ↑song, ↑station, ↑team

Play is used with these nouns as the object: ↑ball, ↑bar, ↑baseball, ↑basketball, ↑blues, ↑bridge, ↑card, ↑cassette, ↑CD, ↑character, ↑chess, ↑chord, ↑circuit, ↑clip, ↑comedy, ↑composition, ↑concert, ↑concerto, ↑cricket, ↑defence, ↑dice, ↑disc, ↑drum, ↑DVD, ↑encore, ↑excerpt, ↑fanfare, ↑festival, ↑fixture, ↑football, ↑game, ↑gig, ↑golf, ↑hand, ↑havoc, ↑hero, ↑hockey, ↑host, ↑house, ↑hunch, ↑hymn, ↑instrument, ↑jazz, ↑joke, ↑lead, ↑lottery, ↑march, ↑market, ↑martyr, ↑match, ↑measure, ↑melody, ↑move, ↑movement, ↑movie, ↑music, ↑note, ↑part, ↑pass, ↑passage, ↑piece, ↑politics, ↑pop, ↑position, ↑rally, ↑recital, ↑record, ↑recording, ↑repertoire, ↑role, ↑round, ↑rugby, ↑run, ↑scale, ↑scene, ↑score, ↑selection, ↑set, ↑single, ↑snooker, ↑soccer, ↑soldier, ↑solo, ↑song, ↑sport, ↑stroke, ↑symphony, ↑system, ↑tackle, ↑tape, ↑team, ↑tennis, ↑tournament, ↑track, ↑trick, ↑truant, ↑tune, ↑venue, ↑video, ↑villain, ↑waltz, ↑work