play for time
Appearance
English
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Audio (General Australian): (file)
Verb
[edit]play for time (third-person singular simple present plays for time, present participle playing for time, simple past and past participle played for time)
- (idiomatic) To delay a situation until one is prepared.
- 29 February 2012, Aidan Foster-Carter, BBC News, “North Korea: The denuclearisation dance resumes”:
- Two cheers for that, at best. The original six party talks ran, or rather crawled, from 2003 to 2008. It remains unclear if North Korea was ever serious – or just playing for time while working on HEU.
- Synonym: buy time
- 29 February 2012, Aidan Foster-Carter, BBC News, “North Korea: The denuclearisation dance resumes”:
Translations
[edit]to delay until one is prepared
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