Friday, October 15, 2004

Today's OED antedating: "to overplay"

To overplay, figurative, to botch through overconfidence, generally in regard to "one's hand," ex card-misplaying (v., sec 1 (b), first use cited 1930): Book titled The Girl Proposition, by George Ade, 1902, p 69: "Once there was a Steady who overplayed his Standing and came within an Ace of losing his Home."