play with

Also found in: Idioms.

Related to play with: play with fire

play with

vb (intr, preposition)

1. to consider without giving deep thought to or coming to a conclusion concerning: we're playing with the idea of emigrating.

2. to behave carelessly with: to play with a girl's affections.

3. to fiddle or mess about with: he's just playing with his food.

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

Translations

w>play with

vi +prep obj to play with the idea of doing something → mit dem Gedanken spielen, etw zu tun; we don’t have much time/money to play with → wir haben zeitlich/finanziell nicht viel Spielraum; we don’t have that many alternatives to play with → so viele Alternativen haben wir nicht zur Verfügung; to play with oneself → an sich (dat) → herumfummeln

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

References in classic literature ?

It is also very necessary that children should have some employment which will amuse them; for which reason the rattle of Archytas seems well contrived, which they give children to play with, to prevent their breaking those things which are about the house; for at their age they cannot sit still: this therefore is well adapted to infants, as instruction ought to be their rattle as they grow up; hence it is evident that they should be so taught music as to be able to practise it.

View in context

For me personally, the Brahms piano quartets are just as important as the concerti, especially if you can play with great musicians.

A conversation with Yefim Bronfman

So in August 2005, she began taking golf lessons with PGA of America golf instructors at Evergreen Hills in their native Detroit, and she loves it: "It has been very special for me to be able to play with my son after years of taking him to the best courses and attending tournaments.

The family that plays together ... for these individuals, golf is a family affair

Our term for this play with three options is "Triple".

Boots, shovels & reverses: complements of the counter-trey

He challenges Richard Helgerson's notion in Forms of Nationhood: The Elizabethan Writing of England that "the contest between orality and literacy" (134) is particular to historical drama and a matter ultimately of authorial promotion, before tentatively associating the decline of the history play with Jacobean culture's awareness of historiography.

Playing the Past: Approaches to English Historical Drama 1385-1600.

I find myself generally at odds with Huntington's view that globalization will lead to a clash of civilizations, rather than a process of gradual interpenetration, although Islamic societies are certainly among those who have been more rigorous in their clear opposition to all the elements of pleasure and play with which western societies beckon and repel.

Children and globalization

If you want to play with other people but hesitate--there is yet another great benefit to online play.

When you play, you win. (web head report)

"Try to imagine the play with the sex of the characters [Catherine and her father's student] reversed," Taylor says.

Drama in numbers: putting a passion for mathematics on stage

Teacher: (Assured him that it would not take too long.) Kyle, you can play with Ms.

Helping elementary-age children cope with disasters

This is a big family/community and I don't think anymore in terms of who I play with just because they don't live in the same city.