playbook

[ pley-boo k ]

/ ˈpleɪˌbʊk /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR playbook ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

(in Elizabethan drama) the script of a play, used by the actors as an acting text.

a book containing the scripts of one or more plays.

Football. a notebook containing descriptions of all the plays and strategies used by a team, often accompanied by diagrams, issued to players for them to study and memorize before the season begins.

Informal. any plan or set of strategies, as for outlining a campaign in business or politics.

Nearby words

playact, playacting, playback, playback head, playbill, playbook, playboy, playboy of the western world, the, playbroker, playclothes, playday

Origin of playbook

First recorded in 1525–35; play + book

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for playbook

That was the playbook the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth used to discredit then-Sen.
The (Sloppy) Swift-Boating of Michigan Democrat Gary Peters|Tim Mak|October 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
No shame and desperation to drive a teammate to hand over money or the playbook to a blackmailer.
Michael Sam Is Not a ‘Distraction’|Dave Cullen|February 12, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Intentionally or not, the Putin regime has followed the Berlin 1936 playbook quite closely for Sochi.
Putin’s Sochi and Hitler’s Berlin: The Love Affair Between Dictators and the Olympic Games.|Garry Kasparov|February 7, 2014|DAILY BEAST
He took a page out of the Bush playbook or, dare I say it, even the Cheney one.
Obama’s Defiant Obamacare Defense in Boston|Michael Tomasky|October 31, 2013|DAILY BEAST

Repeatedly, de Blasio said Lhota was borrowing a page “from the Republican playbook” and favoring “trickle-down economics.”
New York City Mayoral Debate Features Strong Sparring but No Knockout|David Freedlander|October 16, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Each had a playbook beside his plate, and they were apparently studying their parts for the morning performance.
Yellow-Cap and Other Fairy-Stories For Children|Julian Hawthorne
The fable, as set forth in the playbook, proved to be unworthy of the scenes and characters: what fable would not?
The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson, Volume 9|Robert Louis Stevenson
I should like to see existing a playbook of “Hamlet” which has been altered and shortened by a joint board of actors and scholars.
Shakespeare in the Theatre|William Poel
I say unto thee a playhouse is the school for the old dragon, and a playbook the primer of Belzebub.
Wild Oats|John O'Keeffe

British Dictionary definitions for playbook

playbook

/ (ˈpleɪˌbʊk) /

noun

a book containing a range of possible set plays

a notional range of possible tactics in any sphere of activity

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for playbook

playbook

also play-book, 1530s, "book of stage plays," from play (n.) + book (n.). Meaning "Book of football plays" recorded from 1965.

playbook

noun

RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

Origin of playbook

Examples from the Web for playbook

British Dictionary definitions for playbook

playbook

noun

Word Origin and History for playbook

playbook