"waiting game" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "waiting games",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "waiting game (plural waiting games)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1896, Mark Twain, chapter 20, in Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc",
          "text": "Inasmuch as nothing was really and rationally to be hoped for but a long continuance of the siege and wearying out of the English, they were naturally a little afraid of Joan's impetuous notions. He said: \"You see, we are sure that the waiting game is the best.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1913, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 14, in The Little Nugget",
          "text": "With Sam the only menace, I had been prepared to play a purely waiting game, watching proceedings from afar, ready to give my help if necessary.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1914, Jack London, “The Siege of the Lancashire Queen,”, in Tales of the Fish Patrol",
          "text": "It was a waiting game, and whichever waited the longer was bound to win.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2002 February 20, Tony Karon, “New Violence Deepens Sharon's Crisis”, in Time",
          "text": "Arafat and Sharon have both been playing a waiting game since the Israeli leader's election a year ago.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A strategy or course of action in which one or more parties refrain from direct action until circumstances change in their favor."
      ],
      "id": "en-waiting_game-en-noun-014cUyoV",
      "links": [
        [
          "strategy",
          "strategy"
        ],
        [
          "course of action",
          "course of action"
        ],
        [
          "refrain",
          "refrain"
        ],
        [
          "circumstance",
          "circumstance"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) A strategy or course of action in which one or more parties refrain from direct action until circumstances change in their favor."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "strategy of refraining from action until circumstances change",
          "word": "odotuspeli"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "strategy of refraining from action until circumstances change",
          "word": "temporeggiare"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "strategy of refraining from action until circumstances change",
          "word": "tergiversare"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-waiting game.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/6e/En-au-waiting_game.ogg/En-au-waiting_game.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/En-au-waiting_game.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "waiting game"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "waiting games",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "waiting game (plural waiting games)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1896, Mark Twain, chapter 20, in Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc",
          "text": "Inasmuch as nothing was really and rationally to be hoped for but a long continuance of the siege and wearying out of the English, they were naturally a little afraid of Joan's impetuous notions. He said: \"You see, we are sure that the waiting game is the best.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1913, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 14, in The Little Nugget",
          "text": "With Sam the only menace, I had been prepared to play a purely waiting game, watching proceedings from afar, ready to give my help if necessary.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1914, Jack London, “The Siege of the Lancashire Queen,”, in Tales of the Fish Patrol",
          "text": "It was a waiting game, and whichever waited the longer was bound to win.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2002 February 20, Tony Karon, “New Violence Deepens Sharon's Crisis”, in Time",
          "text": "Arafat and Sharon have both been playing a waiting game since the Israeli leader's election a year ago.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A strategy or course of action in which one or more parties refrain from direct action until circumstances change in their favor."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "strategy",
          "strategy"
        ],
        [
          "course of action",
          "course of action"
        ],
        [
          "refrain",
          "refrain"
        ],
        [
          "circumstance",
          "circumstance"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) A strategy or course of action in which one or more parties refrain from direct action until circumstances change in their favor."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-waiting game.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/6e/En-au-waiting_game.ogg/En-au-waiting_game.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/En-au-waiting_game.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "strategy of refraining from action until circumstances change",
      "word": "odotuspeli"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "strategy of refraining from action until circumstances change",
      "word": "temporeggiare"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "strategy of refraining from action until circumstances change",
      "word": "tergiversare"
    }
  ],
  "word": "waiting game"
}