play ball
Idioms-
Cooperate, as in The opposing attorneys refused to play ball with us . [ Slang ; c. 1900]
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Get going, start, as in It's time to get a move on; let's play ball . This usage comes from the baseball umpire's call to start a game. [ Slang ; late 1800s]
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
As the chopper circled Miami, the cameraman explained the purpose of the shoot: “Everybody and their mama wants to know where he’s going to play ball next year.”
From The Wall Street Journal • May 10, 2026
"And they'd all got the memo to play ball and deliver an opening episode full of sizzling chemistry, cheeky banter and decent anecdotes," she wrote.
From BBC • Mar. 14, 2026
He added that “If…universities do not play ball, lawyer up, because the federal government is coming after you.”
From Salon • May 20, 2025
And there’s the whole other theme here where it would appear that Adams was coached by Bove to essentially offer: I’ll really play ball on immigration if you’ll dismiss the cases.
From Slate • Feb. 14, 2025
“I like that. Tell me, Eddie. Did you ever play ball with a lot of people watching?”
From "The Million Dollar Shot" by Dan Gutman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
