'To come into play' definitions:
Definition of 'To come into play'
From: GCIDE
- Play \Play\, n.
- 1. Amusement; sport; frolic; gambols. [1913 Webster]
- 2. Any exercise, or series of actions, intended for amusement or diversion; a game. [1913 Webster]
- John naturally loved rough play. --Arbuthnot. [1913 Webster]
- 3. The act or practice of contending for victory, amusement, or a prize, as at dice, cards, or billiards; gaming; as, to lose a fortune in play. [1913 Webster]
- 4. Action; use; employment; exercise; practice; as, fair play; sword play; a play of wit. "The next who comes in play." --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
- 5. A dramatic composition; a comedy or tragedy; a composition in which characters are represented by dialogue and action. [1913 Webster]
- A play ought to be a just image of human nature. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
- 6. The representation or exhibition of a comedy or tragedy; as, he attends ever play. [1913 Webster]
- 7. Performance on an instrument of music. [1913 Webster]
- 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. [1913 Webster]
- The joints are let exactly into one another, that they have no play between them. --Moxon. [1913 Webster]
- 9. Hence, liberty of acting; room for enlargement or display; scope; as, to give full play to mirth. [1913 Webster]
- 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. [1913 Webster]
- I, with two more to help me, Will hold the foe in play. --Macaulay. [1913 Webster]