CHILD'S PLAY • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Child's play

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/tʃaɪldz pleɪ/ Listen

noun

Child n. (pl. children)

1.

A son or a daughter; a male or female descendant, in the first degree; the immediate progeny of human parents; in law, legitimate offspring. Used also of animals and plants.

2.

A descendant, however remote; used esp. in the plural; as, the children of Israel; the children of Edom.

3.

One who, by character of practice, shows signs of relationship to, or of the influence of, another; one closely connected with a place, occupation, character, etc.; as, a child of God; a child of the devil; a child of disobedience; a child of toil; a child of the people.

4.

A noble youth. See Childe. (Obs.)

5.

A young person of either sex. esp. one between infancy and youth; hence, one who exhibits the characteristics of a very young person, as innocence, obedience, trustfulness, limited understanding, etc. "When I was child. I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things."

6.

A female infant. (Obs.) "A boy or a child, I wonder?"

To be with child, to be pregnant.

Child's play, light work; a trifling contest.

See images of 'Child's play'

Etymology of 'Child's play'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Child's play" Quotes from Famous Books

... and have no child's play," exclaimed Blackall with vehemence, throwing himself into the attitude to engage. He made several rapid passes, which Ernest parried dexterously. As he did so, he observed that his adversary's foil had ...

— Ernest Bracebridge - School Days • William H. G. Kingston

... cheerless lodgings, exhausted, dispirited, and alone, to walk her chamber till the morning, wrestling with real terrors and sorrows, the homely distresses of the heart, hard, absolute, unrelieved,—to which the tragic agonies she had been representing seemed but child's play. ...

— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 4, No. 23, September, 1859 • Various

... wall a large, keen hunting-knife, opened the door, and stole out, accompanied by Hogvardt and Watkins, who carried their revolvers. We reached the pen without interruption, tied our rope firmly round the horns of one of the dead beasts, and set to work to drag it along. It was no child's play, and our progress was very slow; but the carcass moved, and I gave a shout of encouragement as we got it down to the smoother ground of the road and hauled it along with a will. Alas! that shout was ...

— McClure's Magazine, Vol. VI., No. 6, May, 1896 • Various

... three 'tall trees,'" said he, "about in the right line from Skeleton Island. 'Spy-glass Shoulder,' I take it, means that lower p'int there. It's child's play to find the stuff now. I've half a mind ...

— Treasure Island • Robert Louis Stevenson

... War Department, and blue as was the mood of the public—the blow still fell like a thunder-clap and shook to the winds the few remaining shreds of hope. General Wise was ill in bed; and the defense—conducted by a militia colonel with less than one thousand raw troops—was but child's play to the immense armada with heaviest metal that ...

— Four Years in Rebel Capitals - An Inside View of Life in the Southern Confederacy from Birth to Death • T. C. DeLeon

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