play off against



play someone off against (someone else)

to scheme in a manner that pits two of your adversaries against one another. Bill wanted to beat me up and so did Bob. I did some fast talking, and they ended up fighting with each other. I really played Bill off against Bob. The president played the House off against the Senate and ended up getting his own way.
See also: off, play

Common Names:

NameGenderPronouncedUsage
Sung-Jinsung-jeenKorean
Benitabe-NEE-tahSpanish
Beniamino-Italian
Gonzalez[gɔn'za:lez]
KreŠImira-Croatian
Chinwendu-Western African, Igbo