playmate
(ˈpleɪmeɪt)
[f. play n. + mate n.2]
A companion in play, a playfellow. Also fig.
| 1642 H. More Song of Soul ii. iii. iii. lviii, The lovely playmates of pure verity. 1798 Coleridge Frost at Midnight 43 My play-mate when we both were clothed alike! 1828 Carlyle Misc. (1857) I. 213 Brother and playmate to all Nature. 1859 Helps Friends in C. Ser. ii. II. i. 14 Hunger and dirt for his playmates. 1879 Meredith Egoist vi, She had been taken by playmate boys in her infancy to peep into hedge-leaves. |
Hence ˈplaymating n., the being playmates, companionship in play.
| 1888 G. W. Cable in Library Mag. (N.Y.) May 21 Nor [is there] a tenth as much..playmating of white and colored children as there was in the days of slavery. |
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Add: 2. transf. A companion in amorous (esp. sexual) play, a lover. orig. U.S.
| 1928 Publishers' Weekly 9 June 2393 Gerry Harris was ‘a good time girl’, who sought men only as playmates. 1942 Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §443/1 Lovers,..playmates. 1954 Playboy Jan. 26 (caption) Here's Playboy's playmate for the month of January. A very lovely unpinned pin-up to help you welcome in the New Year. 1969 Punch 22 Jan. p. vii/1, I never caught up with the Playboys and Playmates, but I knew they were out there somewhere. 1977 B. Bainbridge Injury Time (1978) xvii. 137 To hell with Marcia, with her flat-mates, her play-mates, her unknown men answering the telephone. 1988 Star (Tarrytown, N.Y.) 12 Apr. 16/2 Cecelia is the leader of her half-dozen playmates. |