play on

British  

verb

1. (adverb) to continue to play

2. Also: play upon.  (preposition) to exploit or impose upon (the feelings or weakness of another) to one's own advantage

3. (adverb) cricket to hit the ball into one's own wicket

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play on Idioms  

1. Also, play upon. Take advantage of or make use of for a desired effect, as in These health care ads are meant to play on our fears. This idiom uses play in the sense of “performing on an instrument.” Shakespeare used it in Hamlet (3:2): “You would play upon me; you would seem to know my stops.” [Late 1500s]

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Example Sentences

Other additions included networking company Lumentum Holdings and its peer Coherent, as well as EchoStar, a satellite communications provider viewed by many as a play on SpaceX.

From Barron's

For a Japanese company in pursuit of brand awareness and expansion in the United States and elsewhere, there might be nothing better than getting your name in front of millions of fans around the world watching Shohei Ohtani play on television.

From Los Angeles Times

Jeff Marks, the chief executive of Los Angeles-based Innovative Partnerships Group, once brokered a naming rights deal in which the Cal football team would play on Kabam Field at California Memorial Stadium.

From Los Angeles Times

When Netflix still possessed the streaming rights — and I watched things on the platform via an archaic interface you could access by inserting a disc into the Nintendo Wii — I pressed play on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” eager to indulge in what used to scare me, channel surfing as a kid.

From Salon

“Her ability to switch out on guards and play on the perimeter and help us out is really, really big. And obviously offensively, she’s such a big offensive player.”

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• adopt
• apply
• employ
• handle
• manage
• operate
• practice
• run
• spend
• utilize
• wield
• work