Word.ws English Dictionary

played it cheap

played it cheap is the simple past and past participle of play it cheap.

Meaning of play it cheap

Verb

play it cheap (third-person singular simple present plays it cheap, present participle playing it cheap, simple past and past participle played it cheap)

  1. (idiomatic, informal, uncommon) To be frugal or stingy.
    • With blind eagerness, judged by subsequent action and indifference, our Government seems to have essayed to play the part of philanthropist, guide, and friend, but to "play it cheap", as if phrases could alter facts, or high-sounds declarations could complete, in a moment, what centuries elsewhere...1885, John F. Slater Fund for the Education of Freedmen, Proceedings of the Trustees of the John F. Slater Fund for the Education of Freedmen, page 11

Questions about played it cheap

What is played it cheap the simple past and past participle of?
Played it cheap is the simple past and past participle of play it cheap.

Words near played it cheap in the dictionary

  1. played in Peoria
  2. played into someone's hand
  3. played into someone's hands
  4. played into the hand of
  5. played into the hands of
  6. played it cheap
  7. played it close to the hip
  8. played it cool
  9. played it for all it's worth
  10. played it pear-shaped
  11. played it safe

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: played it cheap (page history and authors); play it cheap (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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