Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
noun
Rough or rowdy play that can often result in unintentional physical harm.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: horsing around, roughhousing
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To engage in horseplay.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive
Synonyms: horse around, roughhouse, play fight
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: fool around, mess around, fuck around
noun
rowdy or boisterous play
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: play, frolic, romp, gambol, caper
History
A compound of horse + play, possibly from observation of boisterous horses playing, or from its attributive sense "strong, big or coarse".
Across languages
19 source translations are retained for this English entry.
