game

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• adjective Crippled; lame.
• noun An activity providing entertainment or amusement; a pastime.
• noun A competitive activity or sport in which players contend with each other according to a set of rules.
• noun A single instance of such an activity.
• noun An organized athletic program or contest.
• noun A period of competition or challenge.
• noun The total number of points required to win a game.
• noun The score accumulated at any given time in a game.
• noun The equipment needed for playing certain games.
• noun A particular style or manner of playing a game.
• noun An active interest or pursuit, especially one involving competitive engagement or adherence to rules.
• noun A business or occupation; a line.
• noun An illegal activity; a racket.
• noun Evasive, trifling, or manipulative behavior.
• noun A calculated strategy or approach; a scheme.
• noun Mathematics A model of a competitive situation that identifies interested parties and stipulates rules governing all aspects of the competition, used in game theory to determine the optimal course of action for an interested party.
• noun Wild mammals, birds, or fish hunted for food or sport.
• noun The flesh of these animals, eaten as food.
• noun An object of attack, ridicule, or pursuit.
• noun Mockery; sport.
• intransitive verb To manipulate dishonestly for personal gain; rig.
• intransitive verb To play for stakes; gamble.
• adjective Plucky and unyielding in spirit; resolute.
• adjective Ready and willing.
• idiom (ahead of the game) In a position of advantage; winning or succeeding.
• idiom (be on (one's) game) To play a sport with great skill.
• idiom (the only game in town) The only one of its kind available.

from The Century Dictionary.

• Crooked; lame: as, a game leg.
• To play at any sport or diversion.
• To gamble; play for a stake, prize, or wager with cards, dice, balls, etc., according to certain rules. See gaming.
• To be glad; rejoice; receive pleasure: sometimes used impersonally with the dative.
• To stake or lose at play; gamble (away).
• noun Specifically— A part of a rubber. The victors in two games out of three win the rubber.
• noun One of the points to be scored in all-fours, as high, low, jack, and the game.
• noun The number of players necessary, or required by the rules, for playing a game; a ‘set.’
• noun In old archery, a meeting or public competition of archers.
• noun Mirth; amusement; play; sport of any kind; joke; jest, as opposed to earnest: as, to make game of a person, or of his pretensions or actions (now the chief use of the word in this sense). See to make game of, below.
• noun A play or sport for amusement or diversion.
• noun A contest for success or superiority in a trial of chance, skill, or endurance, or of any two or all three of these combined: as, a game at cards, dice, or roulette; the games of billiards, draughts, and dominoes; athletic games; the Floral games.
• noun The art or mode of playing at a game: as, he plays a remarkable game.
• noun The successful result of a game, or that which is staked on the result: as, the game is ours.
• noun The requisite number of points or advantages to be gained in order to win a game: as, in cribbage 61 is game or the game.
• noun A scheme; plan; project; artifice.
• noun Amorous sport; gallantry; intrigue.