playbill (plabil)

A bill or placard displayed as an advertisement of a play, with or without the parts a igned to the actors; a bill of the play; a program. Nicholas found himself poring with the utmost interest over a large playbill hanging outside a minor theatre. Dickens , Nicholas Nickle by, xlviii. a trifler. Saints in your injuries, devils being offended, Players in your housewifery. (c) A contestant in a game or match of any kind; also, one who is in the habit of playing, or who is skilled in, a particular game: as, a che - player ; a billiard - player . If two play, then each one covers two divisions, the one nearest to the wall being the inhand, the other one the out hand player . Tribune Book of Sports , p. 128. (d) A dramatic performer; an actor; one who enacts char- acters on the stage. The proper tie and condition of Players is sometymes to haue greate abundance, and at other times to suffer greate lacke. Guevara , Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1577), p. 318. All the world 's a stage, The gallery of the bower-bird. See cut under bower bird . The Bower-birds, by tastefully ornamenting their play ing - pa ages with gayly-colored objects, offer additional evidence that they po e a sense of beauty. Darwin , Descent of Man, I. 61. playle (plā'les), a. [ pon. Go rec he me my playlome , And I salle go to hym sone; Hym were better hafe bene at Rome, So ever mote I thryfe! Perceval , 2013. ( Hall i well .) play-maker (plāʼmā"kėr), n . A writer of plays. Same as hobby - horse , 1. To give a poor soul a farthing at that door where you give a player a shilling is not equal dealing, for this is to give God the refuse of the wheat. Donne , Sermons, viii. The player feigns for no other end but to divert or in- struct you. Steele , Spectator, No. 370. (e) One who performs on an instrument of music. Seek out a man who is a cunning player on an harp. 1 Sam. xvi. 16. Then player is played, and songsters song, To gled the mirrie host. Battle of Balrinnes (Child's Ballads, VII. 220). playerly (plāʼėr-li), a . [ player + -ly1 .] Player- like. n. Prynne, Histrio-Mastix, II. ii. 1. playfeert, [Also improp. play pheer ; playfere ; play1 + feer1 .] A playfellow. Pouerte & pacyence are nedes play -feres . Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), iii. 45. Learn what maids have been her companions and play pheers. Fletcher ( and another ), Two Noble Kinsmen, iv. 3. She was wont to call him her dear son, Her little play - feer , and her pretty bun. IMG:content-0390.png:[blocks in formation] Heart's discontent and sour affliction Be playfellows to keep you company! Shak ., 2 Hen. VI., iii. 2. 301. Danger 's my playfellow ; Since I was a man, 't has been my best companion. Fletcher, Wife for a Month, v. 3. playful (plāʼful), a . [ pleiful ; playful child. The playful children just let loose from school. Goldsmith, Deserted Village, 1. 120. 2. Showing a sportive fancy or sprightly humor; pleasantly jocular: as, a playful remark; a playful style; playful attentions. playfully (plā'ful-i), adv . In a playful manner; sportively. playfulne (plā'fül-nes), n. state of being playful; sportivene . The quality or I think the word that Cowper was at a lo for was play fulne , the most delightful ingredient in letters, for Gray can hardly be said to have had humor in the deeper sense of the word. Lowell , New Princeton Rev., I. 167. This exhibition, the play - mare of Scotland, stood high among holyday gambols. It must be carefully separated from the wooden chargers of our nurseries. It gives rise to Hamlet's ejaculation "But oh, but oh, the hobby-horse is forgot!" Scott , Abbot, xiv., note. playmate (plā'māt), n. A playfellow; a companion in play or amusement. Patience, discreetne e, and benign i tie, These be the lovely playmates of pure veritie. Dr. H. More, Psych a than asia, III. iii. 58. Nature does not like to be observed, and likes that we should be her fools and playmates . Emerson , Experience. playnet. A Middle English form of plain1 and plain2 .