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
Cyrillus-Ancient Greek (Latinized)
Nichol-Scottish, Medieval English
Ansermet['a:nsermei]
King[kiŋ]
Mika (1)MEE-kahFinnish
Wystan-English (Rare)