playing

▪ I. playing, vbl. n.
    (ˈpleɪɪŋ)
    [f. play v. + -ing¹.]
    1. a. The action of the verb play, in various senses.

a 1310 in Wright Lyric P. xxx. 88 As y me wende omy pleyȝyng, on mi folie y thohte. c 1320 Sir Tristr. 1744 Sche þouȝt..Tristrem and y boaþe Beþ schent for our playing. c 1420 Chron. Vilod ccxx, Edgar rode ouȝt on his pleyeng, In to a fforest neyȝt to his place. 1535 Coverdale Ecclus. xlix. 1 Swete as hony.., and as the playenge of Musick. 1561 T. Hoby tr. Castiglione's Courtyer i. (1577) C v b, Some in ryding, some in playing at fence. 1601 Bp. W. Barlow Serm. Paules Crosse 60 They call it the playeing of the Bit in the horse mouth. 1691 T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. p. lxiii, A playing of the Tide too and fro. 1711 in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 148 The action..mostly consisted in the playeing of the artillery. 1712 J. James tr. Le Blond's Gardening 193 Conveying the Water..for the playing of Jets. 1885 Athenæum 14 Nov. 645/2 First-class orchestral playing.

    † b. (In form plawing.) Boiling. Obs.

1465 in Paston Lett. III. 435 A grete lede to brew v. comb malte with one plawyng. 1683 Pettus Fleta Min. ii. 14 Antiently Boyling was called Plawing.

    2. attrib. and Comb., as playing day, playing garment, playing gear, playing-life, playing place, playing-time, playing week; † playing-board, a board for playing some game on, e.g. a dice-board or chess-board; playing-croft (Sc.), a playground; † playing-fere, a playfellow (= playfere); playing-field, a field or piece of ground for playing in; applied esp. to the playgrounds at Eton; playing-house, -passage, in quots. applied to the ‘bower’ constructed by bower-birds; † playing-stock, a butt for jests, a laughing-stock; † playing-table = playing-board; † playing-thing = plaything. See also playing-card.

1398 Trevisa Barth De P.R. xvii. clxii. (Bodl. MS.), And in anoþer manere table is a *pleyinge borde þat men pley one atte dies and oþer games.

1804 W. Taylor in Ann. Rev. II. 370 If both sexes have separate *playing-crofts.

1575 Recorde's Gr. Artes ii. Ee vij b, Then woulde the quotient declare the true number of the working dayes, and not of *playing dayes. 1598 Shakes. Merry W. iv. i. 9 'Tis a playing day I see: how now Sir Hugh, no Schoole to day?

1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 357 He loueþ somdel her norice and here *pleieng feres. c 1450 Cov. Myst. (Shaks. Soc.) 115 Ffarewel, Goddys sustyr, and his pleynge fere.

1583–4 in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) I. 464 (Eton Coll. Acc.) Trees..aboute the *playinge fildes. 1736 H. Walpole Corr. (1820) I. 6 The playing fields at Eton. 1898 J. A. Gibbs Cotswold Village 28 Pass on to Eton... Mark well the playing fields.

c 1440 Promp. Parv. 404/2 *Pleyynge garment, ludix.

1531 in Sharp Cov. Myst. (1825) 44 The seid pagyaunt, with the implements and *playing geire belongyng to the same.

1840 Gould in Proc. Zool. Soc. 94 They are used by the birds as a *playing-house or ‘run’, as it is termed.

1957 Records & Recording Nov. 20/1 If it is already tracking properly, a sapphire should have a *playing life of about 50 hours.

1871 Darwin Desc. Man I. i. ii. 63 The Bowerbirds..tastefully ornamenting their *playing-passages with gaily-coloured objects.

c 1350 Will. Palerne 750 Þat preui *pleyng place..Ioyned wel iustly to meliors chamber. 1556 Olde Antichrist 87 b, The plaieng place, which they call Theatrum Colosseum. 1852 W. J. Broderip Leaves Notebk. of Naturalist 152 On visiting the cedar-brushes of the Liverpool range, he discovered several of these bowers or playing-places.

1579–80 North Plutarch (1676) 748 To make him a *playing stock in common playes.

1519 W. Horman Vulg. 282 b, I haue bought a *pleyeng tabull: with .xii. poyntis on the one syde: and chekers on the other syde. 1639 in Bury Wills (Camden) 180, I give vnto my sonne-in-law..my inlaid playeing tables.

c 1440 Promp. Parv. 404/2 *Pleyynge thynge, or thynge þat menn or chyldyr pley wythe.

1577 T. White Sermon (1578) sig. C viii verso, If it [sc. the Theatre] be not suppressed..it will make such a Tragedie, y{supt} all London may well mourne..for it is no *playing time..but time to pray rather. 1949 Frayne & Wolfe Elements of Sound Recording xxix. 600 Magnetic materials can be erased and reused..and..reasonable fidelity can be obtained with extremely long playing time. 1951 Sport 16–22 Mar. 2/1 Installation of large playing-time clocks on all major league grounds. 1961 Jazz Monthly Mar. 27/2 It doesn't amount to much qualitatively, or quantitatively in 36 minutes playing time. 1966 Jrnl. Canad. Operational Res. Soc. 117 Ratio, playing time, the ratio of playing time to combat time for an event or series of events.

1523–4 Rec. St. Mary at Hill 322 M{supr} parson gave to them a *playng weke to make mery. 1892 Daily News 2 Nov. 6/4 The desirability or otherwise of a ‘playing’ week at Christmas.

▪ II. ˈplaying, ppl. a.
    [f. as prec. + -ing².]
    a. That plays, in various senses: see the verb. playing trick Cards (see quots. 1959, 1964).

a 1000 in Cockayne Shrine 32 An pleᵹende cild arn under wænes hweowol. c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. iii. met. ii. (Addit. MS.), Þe pleiyng [ludens] besines of men. 1575 Churchyard Chippes (1817) 152 For to plant, some playing pieces there A mount was raysd, which kept the foe in feare. 1701 Evelyn Diary Apr. (1819) II. 74 A lively playing boy. 1871 Ruskin in Daily News 24 Feb. (1898) 6/2 Turner has put the only piece of playing colour in all the picture into the reflections in this. 1899 Somerville & ‘Ross’ Some Experiences Irish R.M. iv. 90 We were in the first game..and I was holding a very nice playing hand. 1959 Reese & Dormer Bridge Player's Dict. 166 Playing tricks are tricks that a hand may reasonably be expected to take when playing in its own best trump suit. 1964 Official Encycl. Bridge (Amer. Contract Bridge League) 430/2 Playing trick, an expected trick if the holder or his partner buys the contract. 1976 ‘Trevanian’ Main ii. 24 He has a fair playing hand but no meld to speak of.

    † b. Boiling. (Also in form plawing.) Obs.

c 1400 Sege Jerus. 671 Hote playande picche amonge þe peple ȝeten. c 1420 Liber Cocorum (1862) 37 In playand water þou kast hit schalle To harden. 1552 Huloet, Bubble, lyke plawing water,..scateo.

Oxford English Dictionary