playbook

plural playbooks

1. A book containing the text of a play or plays.First known use 1530s

   Near-synonym: play

   Synonyms: play

2. A book of games and amusements for children.First known use 1690

   Near-synonym: gamebook

   Synonyms: gamebook

3. USAmerican footballA book of strategies (plays) for use in American football (and by extension other sports or disciplines).First known use 1965
4. figurativelyA book or (especially) any set of commonly employed tactics, strategies, and tips.First known use 1990s

   Near-synonyms: cookbook, run book

   5 more examples

   A Look at Satan's "Playbook"

   1994, Charles R. Wood, Sermon Outlines on Prayer, page 39

   This isn’t merely a gamble on May’s part. It’s an act of reckless political daring. It’s straight out of Danton’s playbook on boldness – de l’audace, et encore de l’audace, et toujours de l’audace. And look what happened to Danton – he lost his head.

   2017 March 17, Martin Kettle, “We used to think Theresa May was a safe pair of hands. We can no longer say that”, in The Guardian

   The company has built its business on the motto “everything is a recommendation”—the company likes to brag that it tailors every aspect of its interface for each individual user. It’s a playbook the company perfected with House of Cards, which was a tremendous gamble for the business of television when Netflix launched the show in 2013.

   2017 March 21, Ed Finn, “The Corrupt Personalization of Netflix”, in Slate

   How Kieran Trippier bent it like Beckham to score England's brilliant World Cup opener against Croatia [title] […] That was an old school free-kick from Kieran Trippier, straight out of the David Beckham playbook. His aim is to get as much whip and dip on the ball as possible. Trippier addresses the side of the ball, plants his left foot alongside it and his right takes care of the rest. The way he wraps his foot around the ball generates a top-spin effect, like a sweetly struck forehand from Rafael Nadal.

   2018 July 12, Jamie Redknapp, “How Kieran Trippier bent it like Beckham to score England's brilliant World Cup opener against Croatia”, in Daily Mail, London: DMG Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 31 Mar 2025

   “No one has a playbook for this,” said Dan Levin, who runs a small company outside Chicago, Cain Millwork, which makes furniture and wall paneling. He said he was planning to have some of his office employees work from home.

   2020 March 5, Mike Isaac, David Yaffe-Bellany, Karen Weise, “Workplace vs. Coronavirus: ‘No One Has a Playbook for This’”, in New York Times

   Synonyms: toolkit, cookbook, run book