Word Meanings - WORDPLAY - Book Publishers vocabulary database

A more or less subtle playing upon the meaning of words.

Related words: (words related to WORDPLAY)

• PLAY
  quick motion, and probably to OS. plegan to promise, pledge, D. plegen to care for, attend to, be wont, G. pflegen; of unknown 1. To engage in sport or lively recreation; to exercise for the sake of amusement; to frolic; to spot. As Cannace was
• PLAYGROUND
  A piece of ground used for recreation; as, the playground of a school.
• PLAYWRITER
  A writer of plays; a dramatist; a playwright. Lecky.
• PLAYTE
  See PLEYT
• WORDSMAN
  One who deals in words, or in mere words; a verbalist. "Some speculative wordsman." H. Bushnell.
• SUBTLE
  subtil, OF. soutil, later subtil, F. subtil, L. subtilis; probably, originally, woven fine, and fr. sub under + tela a web, fr. texere to 1. Sly in design; artful; cunning; insinuating; subtile; -- applied to persons; as, a subtle foe. "A subtle
• PLAYFELLOW
  A companion in amusements or sports; a playmate. Shak.
• PLAYTHING
  A thing to play with; a toy; anything that serves to amuse. A child knows his nurse, and by degrees the playthings of a little more advanced age. Locke.
• MEAN
  menen, AS. mænan to recite, tell, intend, wish; akin to OS. menian to have in mind, mean, D. meenen, G. meinen, OHG. meinan, Icel. meina, 1. To have in the mind, as a purpose, intention, etc.; to intend; to purpose; to design; as, what do you
• PLAYSOME
  Playful; wanton; sportive. R. Browning. -- Play"some*ness, n.
• MEANDROUS; MEANDRY
  Winding; flexuous.
• PLAYGAME
  Play of children. Locke.
• PLAYER
  1. One who plays, or amuses himself; one without serious aims; an idler; a trifler. Shak. 2. One who plays any game. 3. A dramatic actor. Shak. 4. One who plays on an instrument of music. "A cunning player on a harp." 1 Sam. xvi. 16. 5. A gamester;
• PLAYMATE
  A companion in diversions; a playfellow.
• PLAYBOOK
  A book of dramatic compositions; a book of the play. Swift.
• MEANDER
  Fretwork. See Fret. (more info) 1. A winding, crooked, or involved course; as, the meanders of the veins and arteries. Sir M. Hale. While lingering rivers in meanders glide. Sir R. Blackmore. 2. A tortuous or intricate movement.
• PLAYING
  a. & vb. n. of Play. Playing cards. See under Card.
• MEANLY
  Moderately. A man meanly learned himself, but not meanly affectioned to set forward learning in others. Ascham.
• MEAN-SPIRITED
  Of a mean spirit; base; groveling. -- Mean"-spir`it*ed*ness, n.
• PLAYGOER
  One who frequents playhouses, or attends dramatic performances.
• MISDEMEAN
  To behave ill; -- with a reflexive pronoun; as, to misdemean one's self.
• DEMEANURE
  Behavior. Spenser.
• REMEANT
  Coming back; returning. "Like the remeant sun." C. Kingsley.
• MEDAL PLAY
  Play in which the score is reckoned by counting the number of strokes.
• ARAMAEAN; ARAMEAN
  Of or pertaining to the Syrians and Chaldeans, or to their language; Aramaic. -- n.
• SPLAYFOOT
  A foot that is abnormally flattened and spread out; flat foot.
• SWORDSMANSHIP
  The state of being a swordsman; skill in the use of the sword. Cowper.
• HORSEPLAY
  Rude, boisterous play. Too much given to horseplay in his raillery. Dryden.
• DISPLAYER
  One who, or that which, displays.
• INTERMEAN
  Something done in the meantime; interlude. B. Jonson.
• SPLAYMOUTH
  A wide mouth; a mouth stretched in derision. Dryden.
• WORDPLAY
  A more or less subtle playing upon the meaning of words.
• UNMEANT
  Not meant or intended; unintentional. Dryden.
• PHOTOPLAY
  A play for representation or exhibition by moving pictures; also, the moving-picture representation of a play.