play dead

play dead

English

Verb

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

1. To lie very still, like a corpse.
2. To act as though defeated while awaiting a chance to attack.

Synonyms

• play possum

Translations

to lie very still, like a corpse

Catalan: fer el mort Chinese: Mandarin: please add this translation if you can Finnish: leikkiä kuollutta, esittää kuollutta, teeskennellä kuollutta, näytellä kuollutta Tagalog: magpatay-patayan Turkish: ölü taklidi yapmak

to act as though defeated

Chinese: Mandarin: 裝死／装死 (zh) (zhuāngsǐ) Finnish: leikkiä kuollutta, esittää kuollutta, teeskennellä kuollutta, näytellä kuollutta French: faire le mort (fr) German: sich tot stellen Italian: fare il morto, fingersi morto Korean: 죽은 척을 하다 (jugeun cheogeul hada) Norwegian: spille død Spanish: hacerse el muerto Turkish: ölü taklidi yapmak

See also

• thanatosis