play for time
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
Throughout the winter of 1915–16, Law played for time and stalled demands for a meeting of the Central Council, while Unionist ministers pressed the party case in cabinet.
So I took my time over the bread and dripping and I spilt my cocoa on the floor in an effort to play for time.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “play for time” mean?
To delay or stall in order to gain an advantage Literally: to play for time
Is “play for time” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.