play dumb

present singular third person plays dumb · participle present playing dumb · participle past played dumb · past played dumb

1. To pretend to be dumb, either:
   1. idiomaticinformalTo feign muteness.

      I played dumb 'cause I knew if I talked at all, being simple and guileless, you all would twist me up and have the whole thing in a jiffy.

      1904, Rex Ellingwood Beach, “The Mule Driver and the Garrulous Mute”, in Pardners

   2. idiomaticinformalTo feign stupidity or ignorance of some knowledge, usually in order to avoid responsibility or gain some advantage.

      Valchek: Kid, careers have been launched on a helluvalot less. Just... shut up and play dumb. Hauk: I can do that, no problem.

      2006 Sept. 17, David Mills, "Soft Eyes", The Wire, 00:35:20

      1 more example

      Died. Virginia Hill, 49, redheaded, free-spending playmate of the underworld... who later acted out a cameo role before the late Senator Estes Kefauver's Senate crime committee, playing dumb about the business dealings of her many racketeer friends.

      1966 April 1, “Milestones”, in TIME, archived from the original on 12 May 2009

      Synonyms: play stupid