play-actv.
/ˈpleɪakt/, U.S. /ˈpleɪˌæk(t)/ 1. intransitive. To act in or as if in a play; esp. to behave theatrically or insincerely; to pretend, make-believe. Also (rare): to be suitable for acting in a play.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > acting > act [verb (intransitive)]
playa1450
to play (also act) a (also one's) part1540
representa1547
act1598
interlude1608
personate1623
to tread the stage (the boards)1691
perform1724
to go on1769
theatricalize1794
histrionize1851
play-act1856
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > dissimulation, pretence > semblance, outward show > have an appearance of, dissemble [verb (intransitive)] > act a part
to make fashion1571
personize1593
personate1623
theatrize1839
pose1840
play-act1938
1856 N. Amer. Rev. Oct. 299 He has, without a doubt, been play-acting ever since.
1896 G. B. Shaw Let. 6 Sept. (1965) I. 650 I always cut myself to the bone, reading the thing over and over until I have discovered the bits that can't be made to playact anyhow.
1915 F. M. Hueffer Good Soldier iii. i. 140 She wished to appear like the heroine of a French comedy... She was always play-acting.
1938 S. V. Benét Thirteen o'Clock 321 They had to play-act whatever happened.
1998 A. O'Hanlon Talk of Town (1999) ii. iii. 117 The teacher, who knew right well that I was play-acting, would fire the chalk duster at my head and order me to say it properly.
2. transitive. To act out as in a play.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > acting > act [verb (transitive)]
act1585
come1721
inact1900
play-act1962
1877 G. MacDonald Marquis of Lossie II. xvii. 208 Oot wi't like a man, an' no playac' the gunpoother-plot ower again.
1901 N. Munro Doom Castle iv. 39 Very well pleased at the chance your coming gave him of play-acting the man of war.
1962 I. Murdoch Unofficial Rose xv. 149 Or they might cold-bloodedly have play-acted the scene together, laughing about it afterwards.
1969 Listener 5 July 28/2 She wanted more dirty experience: could he not play-act a rapist?
1991 N.Y. Times 21 Nov. c16/2 In concert, Mr. Bolton flawlessly play-acted each lyric's scenario. He brooded torturedly in ‘We're Not Making Love Anymore’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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