play for time

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

1. (idiomatic) To delay a situation until one is prepared.
   • 29 February 2012, Aidan Foster-Carter, BBC News, “North Korea: The denuclearisation dance resumes”:

     Two cheers for that, at best. The original six party talks ran, or rather crawled, from 2003 to 2008. It remains unclear if North Korea was ever serious – or just playing for time while working on HEU.

   Synonym: buy time