different between play vs prank

English

Etymology

From Middle English pleyen, playen, ple?en, plæien, also Middle English pla?en, plawen (compare English plaw), from Old English ple?an, pleo?an, plæ?an, and Old English plegian, pleagian, plagian (“to play, exercise, etc.”), from Proto-West Germanic *plehan (“to care about, be concerned with”) and Proto-West Germanic *pleg?n (“to engage, move”); both perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *blek- (“to move, move about”), from Proto-Indo-European *bal- (compare Ancient Greek ???? (blú?), ????? (blúz?, “I gush out, spring”), Sanskrit ???????? (balbal?ti, “it whirls, twirls”)). Cognate with Scots play (“to act or move briskly, cause to move, stir”), Saterland Frisian pleegje (“to look after, care for, maintain”), West Frisian pleegje, pliigje (“to commit, perform, bedrive”), Middle Dutch pleyen ("to dance, leap for joy, rejoice, be glad"; compare Modern Dutch pleien (“to play a particular children's game”)), Dutch plegen (“to commit, bedrive, practice”), German pflegen (“to care for, be concerned with, attend to, tend”). Related also to Old English pl?on (“to risk, endanger”). More at plight, pledge.

The noun is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæ?, plega, plæ?a (“play, quick [ motion, movement, exercise; (athletic) sport, game; festivity, drama; battle; gear for games, an implement for a game; clapping with the hands, applause”), deverbative of plegian (“to play”); see above.

Pronunciation

• enPR: pl?, IPA^(key): /ple?/, [pl?e?]
• Rhymes: -e?

Verb

play (third-person singular simple present plays, present participle playing, simple past and past participle played)

1. (intransitive) To act in a manner such that one has fun; to engage in activities expressly for the purpose of recreation or entertainment.
   • 2003, Anne-Nelly Perret-Clermont et al. (eds.), Joining Society: Social Interaction and Learning in Adolescence and Youth, Cambridge Univ. Press, p.52:

     We had to play for an hour, so that meant that we didn't have time to play and joke around.

2. (transitive, intransitive) To perform in (a sport); to participate in (a game).

   Hypernym: try

   Hyponym: replay

   1. (transitive) To compete against, in a game.

      We're playing one of the top teams in the next round.
   2. (transitive) (in the scoring of games and sports) To be the opposing score to.

      Look at the score now ... 23 plays 8!

3. (intransitive) To take part in amorous activity; to make love.

   Synonyms: get it on, make out, have sex; see also Thesaurus:copulate
4. (transitive) To act as the indicated role, especially in a performance.
   • 1984, Chris Robinson, commercial for Vicks Formula 44:
5. (heading, transitive, intransitive) To produce music or theatre.
   1. (intransitive, of a music) To produce music.

      Synonyms: cook, jam; see also Thesaurus:play music

      • 2007, Dan Erlewine, Guitar Player Repair Guide ?ISBN, page 220:

        If your guitar plays well on fretted strings but annoys you on the open ones, the nut's probably worn out.

   2. (intransitive, especially of a person) To produce music using a musical instrument.

   3. (transitive, especially of a person) To produce music (or a specified song or musical style) using (a specified musical instrument).

   4. (transitive, ergative) To use a device to watch or listen to the indicated recording.

   5. (intransitive, of a theatrical performance) To be performed; (or of a film) to be shown.

   6. (transitive, of a theatrical company or band, etc.) To perform in or at; to give performances in or at.
      • 2008, My Life: From Normandy to Hockeytown ?ISBN, p.30:

        I got a hold of Louis (Satchmo) Armstrong's agent and I explained to him on the phone that, "I know you're playing London on Wednesday night. Why don't you come and play the Arena in Windsor on Saturday night?"

   7. (transitive) To act or perform (a play).

6. (heading) To behave in a particular way.
   1. (copulative) Contrary to fact, to give an appearance of being.
      • 1985, Sharon S. Brehm, Intimate Relationships:

        Playing hard to get is not the same as slamming the door in someone's face.

      • 1996, Michael P. Malone, James J Hill: Empire Builder of the Northwest:

        Now, surveying his final link, he had the nice advantage of being able to play coy with established port cities that desperately wanted his proven railroad.

      • 2003, John U. Ogbu, Black American Students in an Affluent Suburb: A Study of Academic Disengagement, p.194:

        Instead, they played dumb, remained silent, and did their classwork.

   2. (intransitive) To act with levity or thoughtlessness; to trifle; to be careless.
   3. (intransitive) To act; to behave; to practice deception.
   4. (transitive) To bring into sportive or wanton action; to exhibit in action; to execute.
7. (transitive, intransitive) To move in any manner; especially, to move regularly with alternate or reciprocating motion; to operate.
   • 1705, George Cheyne, Philosophical Principles of Religion:

     The heart beats, the blood circulates, the lungs play.

   • The colonel and his sponsor made a queer contrast: Greystone [the sponsor] long and stringy, with a face that seemed as if a cold wind was eternally playing on it.

8. (intransitive) To move to and fro.
   • The setting sun / Plays on their shining arms and burnished helmets.
9. (transitive) To put in action or motion.

10. (transitive) To keep in play, as a hooked fish in order to land it.
11. (transitive, colloquial) To manipulate, deceive, or swindle someone.

    Synonym: defraud

Conjugation

Translations

Noun

play (countable and uncountable, plural plays)

1. (uncountable, formerly countable) Activity for amusement only, especially among the young.
   • 1803, Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey

     She was fond of all boys' plays, and greatly preferred cricket […] to dolls […]

2. (uncountable) Similar activity in young animals, as they explore their environment and learn new skills.

3. (uncountable) The conduct, or course, of a game.

4. (uncountable) An individual's performance in a sport or game.

5. (countable) A short sequence of action within a game.

6. (countable, turn-based games) An action carried out when it is one's turn to play.

   Synonym: move

   • 2009, Joe Edley, John Williams, Everything Scrabble: Third Edition (page 85)

     AWARD is better than either WARED or WADER. However, there's an even better play! If you have looked at the two-to-make-three letter list, you may have noticed the word AWA.

7. (countable) A literary composition, intended to be represented by actors impersonating the characters and speaking the dialogue.

   Synonyms: drama; see also Thesaurus:drama

8. (countable) A theatrical performance featuring actors.

9. (countable) An attempt to move forward, as in a plan or strategy, for example by a business, investor, or political party.

10. (countable) A geological formation that contains an accumulation or prospect of hydrocarbons or other resources.
11. (uncountable) The extent to which a part of a mechanism can move freely.

12. (uncountable, informal) Sexual activity or sexual role-playing.
    • 1996, "toptigger", (on Internet newsgroup alt.personals.spanking.punishment)

      Palm Springs M seeks sane F 4 safe bdsm play
13. (countable) An instance of watching or listening to digital media.

    Synonyms: (of visual media) view, (of audio) listen
14. (countable) A button that, when pressed, causes media to be played.
15. (archaic, now usually in compounds) Activity relating to martial combat or fighting.

    handplay, swordplay

Translations

Derived terms

See also

• outdoor

Further reading

• play on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• play at OneLook Dictionary Search
• play in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• paly, pyla

Chinese

Etymology

Borrowed from English play, possibly via Japanese ??? (purei).

Pronunciation

Suffix

play

1. play (sexual roleplaying)

   ??play / ??play  ?  xi?ch? play  ?  erotic humiliation

   ??play / ??play  ?  n?zhu?ng play  ?  crossdressing

   ?????play / ?????play  ?  gèzh?ng qíguài de play  ?  all kinds of strange sexual roleplaying

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English play.

Noun

play m (invariable)

1. play (theatrical performance; start key)

Interjection

play!

1. used to announce the start a game of tennis

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from English play.

Noun

play m (plural playes)

1. play (button)

English

Etymology

From Middle English pranken (“to adorn, arrange one's attire”), probably from Middle Dutch pronken, proncken (“to flaunt, make a show, arrange one's attire”). Cognate with Middle Low German prunken (“to flaunt”), German prunken (“to flaunt”), Danish prunke (“to make a show, prank”). Connected also with German prangen (“to make a show, be resplendent”), Dutch prangen (“to squeeze, press”), Danish pragt (“pomp, splendor”), all from Proto-Germanic *prangan?, *prangijan?, *prag- (“to press, squeeze, thring”), from Proto-Indo-European *brAngh- (“to press, squeeze”). Sense of "mischievous act" from earlier verbal sense of "to be crafty or subtle, set in order, adjust". See also prink, prance, prong.

Pronunciation

• enPR: pr?ngk, IPA^(key): /p?æ?k/
• Rhymes: -æ?k

Noun

prank (plural pranks)

1. A practical joke or mischievous trick.

   He pulled a gruesome prank on his sister.

   • The harpies […] played their accustomed pranks.

2. (obsolete) An evil deed; a malicious trick, an act of cruel deception.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:joke

Derived terms

• prankish
• pranksome
• prankster
• pranky

Translations

Verb

prank (third-person singular simple present pranks, present participle pranking, simple past pranked, past participle pranked or (archaic) prankt)

1. (transitive) To perform a practical joke on; to trick.
2. (transitive, slang) To call someone's phone and promptly hang up

   Hey man, prank me when you wanna get picked up.

   I don't have your number in my phone; can you prank me?

3. (transitive) To adorn in a showy manner; to dress or equip ostentatiously.
   • 1748, James Thomson, The Castle of Indolence, B:II

     And there a Sea?on atween June and May,

     Half prankt with Spring, with Summer half imbrown'd,

     A li?tle?s Climate made, where, Sooth to ?ay,

     No living Wight could work, ne cared even for Play.

   • 1880 Dante Gabriel Rosetti, For Spring, by Sandro Botticelli, lines 2–3

     Flora, wanton-eyed

     For birth, and with all flowrets prankt and pied:

4. (intransitive) To make ostentatious show.
   • 1867, Matthew Arnold, "Obermann Once More", in New Poems

     White houses prank where once were huts.

Synonyms

(call and promptly hang up): missed call, missed-call

Translations

Adjective

prank

1. (obsolete) Full of gambols or tricks.

Danish

Noun

prank

1. prank
   • 2016, Klaus Rifbjerg, Falsk forår, Gyldendal A/S (?ISBN)

     Hvad hun tillod sig nu var altså en prank, en joke, noget, der havde med overskud at gøre og slet ikke kunne bringes under de rubrikker, hun lå og forestillede sig.

   • 2014, Nick Clausen, Kanel, klejner og julekaos, Tellerup A/S (?ISBN)

     Bare fordi det er min tur til at finde på en prank gider du ikke gøre dig umage .

   • 2016, Lasse Henriksen, Pil Ingerslev, Benny 1's normale guide til det paranormale, Art People (?ISBN)

     Pranken fik sit eget liv, ...