grandstand play

grandstand play
1. an ostentatious play, as in a sport, overemphasized deliberately to elicit applause from spectators.
2. any action or attempt designed to win approval or to make a strong impression: His going to work on Christmas was another of his grandstand plays.
[1890-95, Amer.]

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • grandstand play — 1. an ostentatious play, as in a sport, overemphasized deliberately to elicit applause from spectators. 2. any action or attempt designed to win approval or to make a strong impression: His going to work on Christmas was another of his grandstand …   Useful english dictionary

  • grandstand play — n. something done exceedingly well to impress an audience or a group of spectators. □ The grandstand play caught the attention of the crowd just as they were leaving. □ He tried one final grandstand play, but the audience continued to give him… …   Dictionary of American slang and colloquial expressions

  • grandstand — [grand′stand΄] n. the main seating structure for spectators at a sporting event, etc. vi. ☆ Informal to try to gain the applause or admiration of an audience by or as by making an unnecessarily showy play (grandstand play), as in baseball… …   English World dictionary

  • grandstand —    American    to accentuate a difficulty in order to win praise    Where the spectators whom you wish to impress are located, but the expression is not confined to sport:     I relied on you to grandstand enough to let her get wise to you.… …   How not to say what you mean: A dictionary of euphemisms

  • grandstand — I. noun Date: 1831 1. a usually roofed stand for spectators at a racecourse or stadium 2. audience II. adjective Date: 1888 done for show or to impress onlookers < a grandstand play > III. intransitive verb …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • grandstand — vb American to put on a bravura display, show off to an audience. The expression comes from the world of sport and was origi nally an Americanism. It is often used as an adjective as in a grandstand play …   Contemporary slang

  • grandstand — (n.) main seating for spectators at an outdoor event, 1834, from GRAND (Cf. grand) (adj.)+ STAND (Cf. stand). The verb meaning to show off is student slang from 1895, from grandstand player, attested in baseball slang from 1888. It s little… …   Etymology dictionary

  • grandstand — [v] show off be ostentatious, be vain, flaunt it*, hot dog*, parade, play to the crowd, prance, put on airs*, showboat*, strut, swagger; concept 261 …   New thesaurus

  • grandstand — I (New American Roget s College Thesaurus) n. bleachers. See vision, arena. v. i. show off, hot dog (inf.). See boasting. II (Roget s IV) n. Syn. amphitheater, stadium, stands, stand, stalls, field house, coliseum, field, benches, boxes,… …   English dictionary for students

  • List of baseball jargon (G) — gamer:A player who plays particularly hard and is prone to making the right play at the right time, often in big games. Also used to refer to an excellent piece of equipment, such as a glove or mitt.gap:The space between outfielders. Also alley.… …   Wikipedia

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