by-play
(ˈbaɪpleɪ)
Also bye-.
[f. by- 3 c + play.]
1. Chiefly on the stage: Action carried on aside, and commonly in dumb-show, while the main action proceeds.
| 1812 L. Hunt in Examiner 21 Dec. 803/1 We need not point out these delicacies of bye-play. 1822 Blackw. Mag. XI. 536 If Mr. Kean were to fill up the intervals of his bye⁓play in tragedy by leaping through the back-scene. 1844 H. Rogers Ess. I. ii. 80 His opponent often has a byplay of malignity even when bestowing commendations. 1850 Blackie æschylus I. Pref. 46 They probably neglected anything like by-play or making points, which are so effective on the English stage. |
2. transf. Play or action apart from the main action in any acceptation.
| 1816 Edin. Rev. XXVI. 310 He is certainly most happy..in the by-play of his fictions. 1871 Earle Philol. Eng. Tong. (1880) §629 The various kinds of by-play in poetry, such as alliteration, rhyme, and assonance. 1878 R. B. Smith Carthage 269 The tide of invasion..is broken up into a number of smaller currents, which..are often in the nature of by-play rather than have any direct bearing on the main issues of the war. |