play
pleɪ
Kicking a ball and playing guitar, one verb
The picture Someone steps inside a marked-off frame and moves freely within it. PLAY is moving inside a frame for its own sake; WORK is spending force to get a result.
Where the picture shows up in play
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moving about for fun
The kids play in the yard.
ðə kɪdz pleɪ ɪn ðə jɑːrd
The children are out in the yard.
Inside a walled yard, children run, chase each other and tumble over
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taking part in a match
We play soccer on Sundays.
wiː pleɪ ˈsɑːkər ɑːn ˈsʌndeɪz
We have a football match every Sunday.
The ball travels only between the white lines while the people move inside them
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handling an instrument
She plays the guitar well.
ʃiː pleɪz ðə ɡɪˈtɑːr wel
She is good on the guitar.
Fingers press and pluck across six strings and pull sound out of the box
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letting sound out
Play the next song, please.
pleɪ ðə nekst sɔːŋ pliːz
Put the next song on, please.
The next line in the list is tapped and sound spills into a quiet room
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becoming that part
He played the doctor in that film.
hiː pleɪd ðə ˈdɑːktər ɪn ðæt fɪlm
He was the doctor in that film.
A white coat goes on and a man walks the screen in someone else's voice and step
All of it in one picture
Play is one picture: free movement inside a set frame. When the yard is the frame, children play; when the lined pitch is the frame, a team plays a match. Six strings make the frame and she plays guitar, a list of songs makes the frame and you play the next track. A script makes the frame, and inside it a man moves as someone else.