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English Dictionary - With Multi-Lingual Search
Your Query of 'play possum' Resulted in 1 Matches
Displaying Items 1 through 1
Definitions
play possum
verb
(
inf=to play possum, plays possum, playing possum, played possum
)
(
idiom
) to feign death; to remain quiet and still to escape attention or remain undetected; to lay low.
Thinking fast, we
played possum
hoping the bear wouldn't bother us.
The soldier
played possum
, fooling the sniper.
To keep the focus away from his client, the lawyer basically
played possum
during the entire complex trial, and his tactic paid off with an acquittal.
(
idiom
) to feign sleep, illness, etc.
When we used to get home late at night, I would so my daddy would carry me inside and put me in bed.
(
idiom, dated
) to dissemble or to feign ignorance; to disguise or conceal something in order to deceive.
1833
, Asa Greene, A Yankee Among the Nullifiers: An Auto-biography
,
http://books.google.com/books?id=ko4sW-LohpIC&pg=PA32&dq=%22playing+the+possum%22&lr=
p32
:Though, as it afterwards turned out, the Yankee had money enough about him, and was merely
playing the "possum
all the while.
1840
, w:Edgar_Allen_Poe, Edgar Allen Poe, s:The_Business_Man, The Business Man
,
http://books.google.com/books?id=60cMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA166&dq=%22play+the+possum%22&lr=&as_brr=1
:Never imposing upon any one myself, I suffered no one to
play the possum
with me.
1858
, w:James_Russell_Lowell, James Russell Lowell, in a letter to w:Oliver_Wendell_Holmes,_Sr., O.W. Holmes, collected in The Complete Writings of...
http://books.google.com/books?id=ntQ6AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA31&dq=%22play+the+possum%22&lr=
PPA31,M1 p31
:You have been holding-in all this while " possumus omnes
, we all
play the "possum
...
1881
, Alexander Lovett Stimson, History of the Express Business'',
http://books.google.com/books?id=S6QaKvPM8uAC&pg=RA1-PA354&dq=%22play+possum%22&lr=
p354
:As none came with the coach from Deadwood, I suppose the amount of funds was insignificant. You can't tell, though, for the stage company is liable to sometimes. <!-- More old 1800's cites for 'possuming' and 'play possum' here:
http://books.google.com/books?id=SJYSAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA675&dq=%play+possum%22&lr
-->
Translations:
Etymology:
English (
term, play
) + (
term, possum
) (from (
term, opossum
)), for the animal"s tendency to pretend to be dead when threatened. First documented 1822.
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