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play around

dichelson

Senior Member
Italy/Italian
Hello: in the following excerpt I'm not sure about the meaning of "play around":

"This is where the rules change, folks. Nobody has to see this, nobody's going to see this, and most of all, Vic Moore is not going to cave in! I've never been afraid of anything, I've never let anybody play around with me, and I'm not starting now." (Vic Moore is himself).

Thank you for your help.
Could it mean "make fun of me"?
It means, in this context, taking advantage of someone. No one is going to take advantage of me.
Play around implies more the contending that the one trying to take advantage of is doing to the other person. It may involve making fun of or mocking, but I wouldn't say that "playing around" in this context would be synonymous with "making fun of."
So, finally, it means "to impose upon, as by exploiting a weakness". Is that it?
You could be exploiting someone's weakness, but you're interferring or meddling in someone's affairs, maybe to take advantage of the person or just to mess up what the person is doing, maybe to thwart the person's endeavor.
Which would you choose between "to take advantage of" and "to stand in the way of"? I'm asking because the last post is more akin to the latter meaning.
I think Vic is saying that he's not going to let anyone manipulate him.
I don't think there's a single meaning to the phrase, honestly. I can certainly see it being used as "manipulate" (as Cathy Rose said), "take advantage of" (asWestSideGal said) or "interfering" (as johnp said). I can also envision it being used to mean "toy with" or "amuse oneself with".

From the little context here, I don't know which I would pick. Given the reference to fear and caving in, I would tend to go with "manipulate", but I don't really think there is enough to go on to determine its meaning here.
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