play possum

短语

装睡, 装病, 装死, 装糊涂

发音

AU

词形变化

played possum playing possum plays possum 三单 plays possum playing possum 现在分词 played possum 过去式 played possum 过去分词

释义与例句

v.
  1. 1.

    To feign death; to remain quiet and still to escape attention or remain undetected; to lie low.

    习语

    Thinking fast, we played possum, hoping the bear wouldn't bother us.

    The soldier played possum, fooling the sniper.

    To keep the focus away from his client, the lawyer basically played possum during the entire complex trial, and his tactic paid off with an acquittal.

  2. 2.

    To feign sleep, illness, etc.

    习语

    When we used to get home late at night, I would play possum so my daddy would carry me inside and put me in bed.

  3. 3.

    To dissemble or to feign ignorance; to disguise or conceal something in order to deceive.

    过时 习语

    You have been holding-in all this while — possumus omnes, we all play the ’possum...

词汇关系

动词

上位词 5

pretend affect sham feign dissemble

词源

From play + possum (“from opposum”), from the behavior of the Virginia opossum, which feigns death when threatened. First use appears c. 1807.

来源：wiktionary