play possum

English dictionary entry

Meanings

verb

To feign death; to remain quiet and still to escape attention or remain undetected; to lie low.
To feign sleep, illness, etc.
To dissemble or to feign ignorance; to disguise or conceal something in order to deceive.

En-au-play possum.ogg

play possum plays possum playing possum played possum

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

act possum possum

sham Abram sham Abraham

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