byplay


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by·play

also by-play  (bī′plā′)
n.
Secondary action or speech taking place while the main action proceeds, as during a theatrical performance.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.byplay - incidental activity performed by an actor for dramatic effectbyplay - incidental activity performed by an actor for dramatic effect; "his business with the cane was hilarious"
acting, performing, playacting, playing - the performance of a part or role in a drama
schtick, schtik, shtick, shtik - (Yiddish) a contrived and often used bit of business that a performer uses to steal attention; "play it straight with no shtik"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
References in classic literature ?
Raoul, delighted at the count's companionship, perceived, or affected to perceive nothing of this byplay.
The cultivation of the fine arts appeared to necessitate, to her mind, a great deal of byplay, a great standing off with folded arms and head drooping from side to side, stroking of a dimpled chin with a dimpled hand, sighing and frowning and patting of the foot, fumbling in disordered tresses for wandering hair-pins.
This little bit of byplay excited Annie's curiosity, but Meg was too tired for gossip and went to bed, feeling as if she had been to a masquerade and hadn't enjoyed herself as much as she expected.
One bit of byplay unnoticed by the seconds, very busy for the moment with their arrangements, must be mentioned.
Sabotaging such diplomatic byplay may have been one goal of hard-liners in Thursday's tanker attacks.
It's a good mystery, embellished with byplay and banter between Virgil and his allies.
The byplay, more than the mayhem, makes the Ant-Man outings distinctive.
More broadly, he "did not like politicians and felt uncomfortable with the normal byplay of political compromise" -- and he was a downer for a country whose spirits needed lifting.
Those significant pieces have been largely overlooked in the ensuing byplay over the cuts.
Still, he should have figured out some way to develop his own byplay or interplay with his canine coactor, since they figure in so many scenes together, and he's the show's main protagonist.
So who cares anyhow that if it hadn't been for western-style capitalism so-called (nothing to do with the black market capitalism in Jeeps and rice in Asia), or laissez-faire, free economic byplay, movement north, south, east, and west, haggling, pricing, and the political balance of power carved into the United States Constitution and active thus far in the history of our government, and my perfectly recorded and legitimatized United States coast guard papers, just as one instance of arch (nonanarchic) credibility in our provable system, I wouldn't have been able or allowed to hitchhike half broke thru 47 states of this Union and see the scene with my own eyes, unmolested?