"play for time" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "plays for time",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "playing for time",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "played for time",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "played for time",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "play for time (third-person singular simple present plays for time, present participle playing for time, simple past and past participle played for time)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "29 February 2012, Aidan Foster-Carter, BBC News, “North Korea: The denuclearisation dance resumes”",
          "text": "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."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To delay a situation until one is prepared."
      ],
      "id": "en-play_for_time-en-verb-RgPAKnrC",
      "links": [
        [
          "delay",
          "delay"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To delay a situation until one is prepared."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "buy time"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to delay until one is prepared",
          "word": "pelata aikaa"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "to delay until one is prepared",
          "word": "Zeit schinden"
        },
        {
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "to delay until one is prepared",
          "word": "húzza az időt"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "tjanútʹ vrémja",
          "sense": "to delay until one is prepared",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "тяну́ть вре́мя"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "vyígryvatʹ vrémja",
          "sense": "to delay until one is prepared",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "выи́грывать вре́мя"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-play for time.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/e/ea/En-au-play_for_time.ogg/En-au-play_for_time.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/En-au-play_for_time.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "play for time"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "plays for time",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "playing for time",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "played for time",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "played for time",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "play for time (third-person singular simple present plays for time, present participle playing for time, simple past and past participle played for time)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "29 February 2012, Aidan Foster-Carter, BBC News, “North Korea: The denuclearisation dance resumes”",
          "text": "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."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To delay a situation until one is prepared."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "delay",
          "delay"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To delay a situation until one is prepared."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "buy time"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-play for time.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/e/ea/En-au-play_for_time.ogg/En-au-play_for_time.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/En-au-play_for_time.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to delay until one is prepared",
      "word": "pelata aikaa"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "to delay until one is prepared",
      "word": "Zeit schinden"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "to delay until one is prepared",
      "word": "húzza az időt"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "tjanútʹ vrémja",
      "sense": "to delay until one is prepared",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "тяну́ть вре́мя"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "vyígryvatʹ vrémja",
      "sense": "to delay until one is prepared",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "выи́грывать вре́мя"
    }
  ],
  "word": "play for time"
}