play for time
1play for time — If you play for time, you delay something because because you are not ready or need more time to thing about it. Eg. I knew I had to play for time until the police arrived …
2play for time — ► play for time use excuses or unnecessary manoeuvres to gain time. Main Entry: ↑play …
3play for time — index procrastinate Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …
4play for time — STALL, temporize, delay, hold back, hang fire, procrastinate, drag one s feet. → play * * * play for time To delay action or decision in the hope or belief that conditions will become more favourable later • • • Main Entry: ↑play * * * play for… …
5play for time — If you play for time, you try to delay or prevent something from happening in order to gain an advantage. He decided to play for time in the hope that the price would decrease …
6play for time — to try to delay something so that you have more time to prepare for it. We can t sign the agreement yet we ll have to play for time …
7play for time — to deliberately delay doing something, or to do it more slowly than usual, so that you have more time to decide what to do I just have to make a phone call first, she said, playing for time …
8play for time — Nesmith s opponents accused him of playing for time in order to pull an election year coup Syn: stall, temporize, delay, hold back, hang fire, procrastinate, drag one s feet …
9play for time — use specious excuses or unnecessary manoeuvres to gain time. → play …
10play for time — attempt to gain extra time …