WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
play up v 1: move into the foreground to make more visible or prominent; "The introduction highlighted the speaker's distinguished career in linguistics" [syn: foreground, highlight, spotlight, play up] [ant: background, downplay, play down] 2: ingratiate oneself to; often with insincere behavior; "She is playing up to the chairman" [syn: cozy up, cotton up, shine up, play up, sidle up, suck up]