long game

plural long games

1. A long-term strategy or endeavor.

   Near-synonym: long haul

   5 more examples

   We were surprised that he didn't object immediately, but then we realized that he's playing the long game.

   I'm in it for the long game.

   He had won the long game and success had turned to ashes in his mouth.

   1917, H. Rider Haggard, chapter 20, in Finished

   Mr. Lynch has always preferred the long game and he is banking on luring Democrats home to the Mayor's side in November.

   1993 July 19, Todd S. Purdum, “As Campaign Warms, Dinkins Manager Is Cool, Calm and Directed”, in New York Times, retrieved 11 Jul 2014

   The U.S. and its allies hope to use the leverage of sanctions to persuade Iran to back down[…] For each side, the long game remains shaping the diplomatic compromise to their own liking.

   2010 August 21, Tony Karon, “Fears May Be Overblown as Iran Reactor Comes Online”, in Time, retrieved 11 Jul 2014

   Synonyms: long haul

2. The version of the game played until one team makes ten points, as opposed to the short game, which is played to five points.

   Chamber's Encyclopedia: “About 1785 the experiment of dividing the game into half was tried, and short whist was the result. The short game soon came into favour; and in 1864 the supremacy of short whist was acknowledged.”

3. American footballThe aspect of the game in which the strategy is to advance downfield by throwing the ball to a receiving player; the passing game.

   [T]he Seahawks held Newton to 119 passing yards, as the Panthers kept mainly to the ground and Seattle's secondary shut down the long game.

   2013 September 8, “What we saw: Seahawks 12, at Panthers 7”, in Seattle Post-Intelligencer, retrieved 11 Jul 2014

4. golfThe portion of the game, played with driver clubs, in which the ball is advanced down the fairway to the putting green.

   “[E]verybody thinks when the wind blows it affects the long game the most, but it doesn’t,” Westwood said. “It tends to affect the putting most.”

   2010 July 18, Christopher Clarey, “Another Second for Golf’s Latest Near-Miss Man”, in New York Times, retrieved 11 Jul 2014