"play it pear-shaped" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_text": "Compare go pear-shaped (“to go awry; to go wrong”), attested somewhat later.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "plays it pear-shaped",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "playing it pear-shaped",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "played it pear-shaped",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "played it pear-shaped",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "play it pear-shaped (third-person singular simple present plays it pear-shaped, present participle playing it pear-shaped, simple past and past participle played it pear-shaped)",
      "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"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with placeholder \"it\"",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1964, Densil Barr, “I Hate You Lamp-Post, You Know I Love You”, in Joseph F. McCrindle, editor, The Transatlantic Review, number 17, page 112:",
          "text": "I thought I'd play it pear-shaped with the Borough Engineer and asked him whose property it was anyway when it was in my garden — if the Council put it there enough times, it meant they were trying to get rid of it even though they didn't own it.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "[1973, Kyril Bonfiglioli, Mortdecai's Endgame (Mortdecai; 1), Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 180:",
          "text": "\"Playing it pear-shaped\" was a favourite expression of Jock's; it seemed to mean deftly turning a situation to one's own advantage; seizing a favorable opportunity: Boxing Clever.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1999 December 11, “The town formerly known as Upton-cum-Chalvey”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 2022-11-14:",
          "text": "When their plans were going awry, Wattis soothed them by saying they were going to \"play it pear-shaped\" (ie it would all go smoothly).",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To avoid committing oneself to a single course of action; to go with the flow, take it easy."
      ],
      "id": "en-play_it_pear-shaped-en-verb-COiguPw7",
      "links": [
        [
          "commit",
          "commit"
        ],
        [
          "course of action",
          "course of action"
        ],
        [
          "go with the flow",
          "go with the flow"
        ],
        [
          "take it easy",
          "take it easy"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "RAF slang",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(RAF slang, dated) To avoid committing oneself to a single course of action; to go with the flow, take it easy."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "dated"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "play it pear-shaped"
}

{
  "etymology_text": "Compare go pear-shaped (“to go awry; to go wrong”), attested somewhat later.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "plays it pear-shaped",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "playing it pear-shaped",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "played it pear-shaped",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "played it pear-shaped",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "play it pear-shaped (third-person singular simple present plays it pear-shaped, present participle playing it pear-shaped, simple past and past participle played it pear-shaped)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English dated terms",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English slang",
        "English terms with placeholder \"it\"",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1964, Densil Barr, “I Hate You Lamp-Post, You Know I Love You”, in Joseph F. McCrindle, editor, The Transatlantic Review, number 17, page 112:",
          "text": "I thought I'd play it pear-shaped with the Borough Engineer and asked him whose property it was anyway when it was in my garden — if the Council put it there enough times, it meant they were trying to get rid of it even though they didn't own it.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "[1973, Kyril Bonfiglioli, Mortdecai's Endgame (Mortdecai; 1), Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 180:",
          "text": "\"Playing it pear-shaped\" was a favourite expression of Jock's; it seemed to mean deftly turning a situation to one's own advantage; seizing a favorable opportunity: Boxing Clever.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1999 December 11, “The town formerly known as Upton-cum-Chalvey”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 2022-11-14:",
          "text": "When their plans were going awry, Wattis soothed them by saying they were going to \"play it pear-shaped\" (ie it would all go smoothly).",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To avoid committing oneself to a single course of action; to go with the flow, take it easy."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "commit",
          "commit"
        ],
        [
          "course of action",
          "course of action"
        ],
        [
          "go with the flow",
          "go with the flow"
        ],
        [
          "take it easy",
          "take it easy"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "RAF slang",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(RAF slang, dated) To avoid committing oneself to a single course of action; to go with the flow, take it easy."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "dated"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "play it pear-shaped"
}