playbookn.
/ˈpleɪbʊk/, U.S. /ˈpleɪˌbʊk/ 1. A book containing the text of a play or plays.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > written or printed text > [noun] > book of plays
playbook1511
1511 in E. K. Chambers Mediæval Stage (1903) II. 141 The garnement man for garnements and propyrts and playbooks.
1535 Coventry Corpus Christi Plays App. ii. 107 Payd for makyng of the playe-boke vs.
1589 R. Jones in P. Henslowe Diary 3 Jan. (1961) 273 Playinge apparrells play Bookes, Instruments, and other comodities.
1633 W. Prynne Histrio-mastix ii. iv. i. (R.) The obscenity..heathenishnesse, and prophanenesse of most play-bookes.
a1640 P. Massinger Parl. of Love (1976) ii. iii. 59 Comparinge of theis eyes to the fairest starrs,..And such hiperboles stolne out of play bookes.
1728 J. Gay Beggar's Opera i. x. 15 Those cursed Play-books she reads have been her Ruin.
1798 Henry Willoughby I. vii. 120 He hoped he should never discover me with a play-book in my hand again.
1846 S. F. Smith Theatr. Apprenticeship 14 Cook's Circulating Library was ransacked for play-books.
1856 R. W. Emerson Eng. Traits xi. 181 'Tis an old sneer, that the Irish peerage drew their names from playbooks.
a1902 F. Norris Pit (1903) iv. 115 The play-book in his hand, Monsieur Gerardy clicked his heels in the middle of the floor and punctiliously saluted everyone present.
1992 M. Bishop Count Geiger's Blues xii. 59 The actors dressed casually and moved about the bare stage as if their playbooks were superfluous.
2. A book of games and activities for children.
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society > leisure > entertainment > toy or plaything > other toys > [noun] > others
spurc1450
cock1608
turnel1621
corala1625
house of cardsa1625
Jack-in-the-box1659
(Prince) Rupert's Drops1662
sucker1681
whirligig1686
playbook1694
card house1733
snapper1788
card castle1792
Aaron's bells?1795
Noah's Ark1807
Jacob's ladder1820
cat-stairs1825
daisy chain1841
beanbag1861
playboat1865
piñata1868
teething ring1872
weet-weet1878
tumble-over1883
water cracker1887
jumping-bean1889
play money1894
serpentin1894
comforter1898
pacifier1901
dummy1903
bubble water1904
yo-yo1915
paper airplane1921
snowstorm1926
titty1927
teaser1935
Slinky1948
teether1949
Mr Potato Head1952
squeeze toy1954
Frisbee1957
mobile1957
chew toy1959
water-rocket1961
Crazy Foam1965
playshop1967
war toy1973
waterball1974
pull-along1976
transformer1984
Aerobie1985
1694 J. G. (title) A play-book for children.
1761 A. Barclay (title) Tom Thumb's play book.
1886 (title) The golden playbook.
1945 Independent-Record (Helena, Montana) 28 Nov. 10/1 (advt.) A charming 3-dimensional play-book.
2002 Daily Post (Liverpool) (Nexis) 16 Oct. 16 The sale will include children's playbooks, withdrawn library books, reference books, fiction and nonfiction.
3. North American.
a. Originally American Football. A manual containing different plays and strategies. Also figurative. Cf. play n. 15a(b).
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > football > American football > [noun] > book
playbook1946
1946 Chicago Tribune 23 Nov. 20/4 When Frank Leahy was looking for a new Notre Dame offense in 1941, George Halas obligingly provided a carbon of the Chicago Bears' play book.
1959 Zanesville (Ohio) Signal 9 July 24 b/7 He took a playbook back to Texas with him and will return when the full squad reports for practice.
1967 Time 6 Jan. 64 On the field, Plimpton did the calisthenics and learned the playbook cold, but when the test came during an intra-squad scrimmage before a large crowd,..every play was botched.
1975 K. Sale Power Shift vi. 294 He was..forced to give up the Vice-Presidency, and suddenly the playbook for the yankee counterattack was written.
1992 N.Y. Times 17 Mar. b9/2 The Tigers..appeared to have memorized to perfection a Boston Celtic playbook from the 1950's.
b. to take a page out of another's playbook and variants: to use tactics copied from another; to adopt a strategy or policy associated with the specified person or group.
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1976 Newsweek 17 May 23/2 Gerald Ford took his bruised candidacy back on the road last week... Taking a page from Jimmy Carter's playbook, he preached the gospel of what's right with America.
1984 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 25 Dec. i. 38/1 Hayes said that the Seahawks' tactic of rushing so often..was a demonstration of the Raider's ‘muscle-mentality trait, a page out of our playbook’. The Seahawks weren't the first team tearing pages out of the Raider playbook.
1992 Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Jrnl. 25 July a4/4 Gov. Bill Clinton, taking a page from the Republican playbook, stood on the steps..with uniformed police officers and denounced President Bush's record on fighting crime.
2003 Time 23 June 48/3 Ellison is taking a leaf from the Microsoft playbook: getting bigger, with less competition, is better.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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