Word.ws English Dictionary

play upon words

play upon words is the dated form of play on words.

Meaning of play on words

Noun

play on words (plural plays on words)

  1. (idiomatic) A pun, or similar humorous use of language such as a double entendre.
    • Mr. Steevens alſo, influenced we ſuppoſe by the authority of Dr. Farmer, ſeems by the way in which he regulates the line in his new edition, to think that Shakſpeare here meaned no more than a play on words.1794, Mr. Malone's Edition of Shakſpeare's Works, in The Monthly Review Or Literary Journal Enlarged [2nd Series], Volume 13, R. Griffiths, page 265
    Synonyms:
    paronomasia

Forms of play upon words

pluralplays upon words

Questions about play upon words

What is play upon words the dated form of?
Play upon words is the dated form of play on words.

Words near play upon words in the dictionary

  1. play truant
  2. play up
  3. play up Old Gooseberry
  4. play up to
  5. play upon
  6. play upon words
  7. play well with others
  8. play with
  9. play with a full deck
  10. play with edge-tools
  11. play with edged tools

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: play upon words (page history and authors); play on words (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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