Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

Game

Game

,
Adj.
[Cf. W.
cam
crooked, and E.
gambol
,
Noun.
]
Crooked; lame;
as, a
game
leg
.
[Colloq.]

Game

,
Noun.
[OE.
game
,
gamen
, AS.
gamen
,
gomen
, play, sport; akin to OS., OHG., & Icel.
gaman
, Dan.
gammen
mirth, merriment, OSw.
gamman
joy. Cf.
Gammon
a game,
Backgammon
,
Gamble
Verb.
I.
]
1.
Sport of any kind; jest, frolic.
We have had pastimes here, and pleasant
game
.
Shakespeare
2.
A contest, physical or mental, according to certain rules, for amusement, recreation, or for winning a stake;
as, a
game
of chance;
games
of skill; field
games
, etc.
But war’s a
game
, which, were their subject wise,
Kings would not play at.
Cowper.
☞ Among the ancients, especially the Greeks and Romans, there were regularly recurring public exhibitions of strength, agility, and skill under the patronage of the government, usually accompanied with religious ceremonies. Such were the Olympic, the Pythian, the Nemean, and the Isthmian games.
3.
The use or practice of such a game; a single match at play; a single contest;
as, a
game
at cards
.
Talk the
game
o'er between the deal.
Lloyd.
4.
That which is gained, as the stake in a game; also, the number of points necessary to be scored in order to win a game;
as, in short whist five points are
game
.
5.
(Card Playing)
In some games, a point credited on the score to the player whose cards counts up the highest.
6.
A scheme or art employed in the pursuit of an object or purpose; method of procedure; projected line of operations; plan; project.
Your murderous
game
is nearly up.
Blackw. Mag.
It was obviously Lord Macaulay's
game
to blacken the greatest literary champion of the cause he had set himself to attack.
Saintsbury.
7.
Animals pursued and taken by sportsmen; wild meats designed for, or served at, table.
Those species of animals . . . distinguished from the rest by the well-known appellation of
game
.
Blackstone.
Confidence game
.
See under
Confidence
.
–
To make game of
,
to make sport of; to mock.
Milton.

Game

,
Adj.
1.
Having a resolute, unyielding spirit, like the gamecock; ready to fight to the last; plucky.
I was
game
. . . .I felt that I could have fought even to the death.
W. Irving.
2.
Of or pertaining to such animals as are hunted for game, or to the act or practice of hunting.
Game bag
,
a sportsman's bag for carrying small game captured; also, the whole quantity of game taken.
–
Game bird
,
any bird commonly shot for food, esp. grouse, partridges, quails, pheasants, wild turkeys, and the shore or wading birds, such as plovers, snipe, woodcock, curlew, and sandpipers. The term is sometimes arbitrarily restricted to birds hunted by sportsmen, with dogs and guns.
–
Game egg
,
an egg producing a gamecock.
–
Game laws
,
laws regulating the seasons and manner of taking game for food or for sport.
–
Game preserver
,
a land owner who regulates the killing of game on his estate with a view to its increase.
[Eng.]
–
To be game
.
(a)
To show a brave, unyielding spirit.
(b)
To be victor in a game.
[Colloq.]
–
To die game
,
to maintain a bold, unyielding spirit to the last; to die fighting.

Game

(gām)
,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Gamed
(gāmd)
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Gaming
.]
[OE.
gamen
,
game[GREEK]en
, to rejoice, AS.
gamenian
to play. See
Game
,
Noun.
]
1.
To rejoice; to be pleased; – often used, in Old English, impersonally with dative.
[Obs.]
God loved he best with all his whole hearte
At alle times, though him
gamed
or smarte.
Chaucer.
2.
To play at any sport or diversion.
3.
To play for a stake or prize; to use cards, dice, billiards, or other instruments, according to certain rules, with a view to win money or some other thing waged upon the issue of the contest; to gamble.

Webster 1828 Edition

Game

GAME

,
Noun.
1.
Sport of any kind.
2.
Jest; opposed to earnest; as, betwixt earnest and game. [Not used.]
3.
An exercise or play for amusement or winning a stake; as a game of cricket; a game of chess; a game of whist. Some games depend on skill; others on hazard.
4.
A single match at play.
5.
Advantage in play; as, to play the game into another's hand.
6.
Scheme pursued; measures planned.
This seems to be the present game of that crown.
7.
Field sports; the chase, falconry, &c.
8.
Animals pursued or taken in the chase, or in the sports of the field; animals appropriated in England to legal sportsmen; as deer, hares, &c.
9.
In antiquity, games were public diversions or contests exhibited as spectacles for the gratification of the people. These games consisted of running, leaping, wrestling, riding, &c. Such were the Olympic games, the Pythian, the Isthmian, the Nemean, &c, among the Greeks; and among the Romans, the Apollinarian, the Circensian, the Capitoline, &c.
10. Mockery; sport; derision; as, to make game of a person.

GAME

,
Verb.
I.
To play at any sport or diversion.
1.
To play for a stake or prize; to use cards, dice, billiards or other instruments, according to certain rules, with a view to win money or other thing waged upon the issue of the contest.
2.
To practice gaming.

Definition 2024

game

game

English

Noun

game ‎(countable and uncountable, plural games)

  1. A playful or competitive activity.
    1. A playful activity that may be unstructured; an amusement or pastime.
      Being a child is all fun and games.‎
    2. (countable) An activity described by a set of rules, especially for the purpose of entertainment, often competitive or having an explicit goal.
      Games in the classroom can make learning fun.‎
      • 1983, Lawrence Lasker, Walter F. Parkes, and Walon Green, WarGames, MGM/UA Entertainment Co.:
        Joshua: Shall we play a game?
    3. (countable) A particular instance of playing a game; match.
      Sally won the game.‎
      They can turn the game around in the second half.‎
    4. That which is gained, such as the stake in a game.
    5. The number of points necessary to win a game.
      In short whist, five points are game.‎
    6. (card games) In some games, a point awarded to the player whose cards add up to the largest sum.
    7. (countable) The equipment that enables such activity, particularly as packaged under a title.
      Some of the games in the closet we have on the computer as well.‎
    8. One's manner, style, or performance in playing a game.
      Study can help your game of chess.‎
      Hit the gym if you want to toughen up your game.‎
      • 1951, J. D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, chapter 11:
        I played golf with her that same afternoon. She lost eight balls, I remember. Eight. I had a terrible time getting her to at least open her eyes when she took a swing at the ball. I improved her game immensely, though.
  2. (countable, informal, nearly always singular) A field of gainful activity, as an industry or profession.
    When it comes to making sales, John is the best in the game.‎
    He's in the securities game somehow.‎
  3. (countable, figuratively) Something that resembles a game with rules, despite not being designed.
    In the game of life, you may find yourself playing the waiting game far too often.‎
  4. (countable, military) An exercise simulating warfare, whether computerized or involving human participants.
  5. (uncountable) Wild animals hunted for food.
    The forest has plenty of game.‎
  6. (uncountable, informal, used mostly of males) The ability to seduce someone, usually by strategy.
    He didn't get anywhere with her because he had no game.‎
  7. (countable) A questionable or unethical practice in pursuit of a goal; a scheme.
    You want to borrow my credit card for a week? What's your game?‎
    • Blackwood Magazine
      Your murderous game is nearly up.
    • George Saintsbury (1845-1933)
      It was obviously Lord Macaulay's game to blacken the greatest literary champion of the cause he had set himself to attack.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Descendants

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

game ‎(comparative gamer, superlative gamest)

  1. (colloquial) Willing to participate.
    • 2016 February 23, Robbie Collin, “Grimsby review: ' Sacha Baron Cohen's vital, venomous action movie'”, in The Daily Telegraph (London):
      Some of Grimsby’s other (extraordinarily up-to-date) targets include Donald Trump and Daniel Radcliffe, whose fates here are too breath-catchingly cruel to spoil, and also the admirably game Strong, whose character is beset by a constant stream of humiliations that hit with the force of a jet of…well, you’ll see.
  2. (of an animal) That shows a tendency to continue to fight against another animal, despite being wounded, often severely.
  3. Persistent, especially in senses similar to the above.
  4. Injured, lame (of a limb).
    • around 1900, O. Henry, Lost on Dress Parade
      You come with me and we'll have a cozy dinner and a pleasant talk together, and by that time your game ankle will carry you home very nicely, I am sure."

Synonyms

Antonyms

Translations

Verb

game ‎(third-person singular simple present games, present participle gaming, simple past and past participle gamed)

  1. (intransitive) To gamble.
  2. (intransitive) To play games and be a gamer.
  3. (transitive) To exploit loopholes in a system or bureaucracy in a way which defeats or nullifies the spirit of the rules in effect, usually to obtain a result which otherwise would be unobtainable.
    We'll bury them in paperwork, and game the system.
  4. (transitive, slang, of males) To perform premeditated seduction strategy.
    • 2005, "Picking up the pieces", The Economist, 6 October 2005:
      Returning briefly to his journalistic persona to interview Britney Spears, he finds himself gaming her, and she gives him her phone number.
    • 2010, Mystery, The Pickup Artist: The New and Improved Art of Seduction, Villard Books (2010), ISBN 9780345518217, page 100:
      A business associate of mine at the time, George Wu, sat across the way, gaming a stripper the way I taught him.
    • 2010, Sheila McClear, "Would you date a pickup artist?", New York Post, 9 July 2010:
      How did Amanda know she wasn’t getting gamed? Well, she didn’t. “I would wonder, ‘Is he saying stuff to other girls that he says to me?’ We did everything we could to cut it off . . . yet we somehow couldn’t.”

Derived terms

Translations

See also

Anagrams

Dutch

Pronunciation

Verb

game

  1. first-person singular present indicative of gamen
  2. (archaic) singular present subjunctive of gamen
  3. imperative of gamen

Portuguese

Etymology 1

Borrowing from English game

Pronunciation

  • (Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈɡejm/, /ˈɡej.mi/

Noun

game m (plural games)

  1. (Brazil, slang) electronic game (game played on a electronic device, such as a computer game, a video game or the like)
Quotations

For usage examples of this term, see Citations:game.

See also

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

  • (Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈɡɐ.mi/

Verb

game

  1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of gamar
  2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of gamar
  3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of gamar
  4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of gamar

Etymology

From Middle English game, gamen, gammen, from Old English gamen ‎(“sport, joy, mirth, pastime, game, amusement, pleasure”), from Proto-Germanic *gamaną ‎(“amusement, pleasure, game", literally "participation, communion, people together”), from *ga- ‎(collective prefix) + *mann- ‎(“man”), equivalent to ge- +‎ man; or alternatively from *ga- + a root from Proto-Indo-European *men- ‎(“to think, have in mind”), equivalent to ge- +‎ mind. Cognate with Middle High German gamen ‎(“joy, amusement, fun, pleasure”), Swedish gamman ‎(“mirth, rejoicing, merriment”), Icelandic gaman ‎(“fun”). Related to gammon, gamble.

Pronunciation

  • AHD: /gām/
  • IPA(key): /ɡeɪm/
  • Rhymes: -eɪm

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