waiting game

plural waiting games

1. idiomaticA strategy or course of action in which one or more parties refrain from direct action until circumstances change in their favor.

   to play the waiting game

   5 more examples

   […] 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, whereas you would carry everything by storm.”

   1895 November, Louis de Conte, translated by [Jean François Alden] [pseudonyms; Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain)], “Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc. […]”, in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, volume XCI, number DXLVI, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →ISSN, [book I], part II, chapter 20, page 880

   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.

   1913, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 14, in The Little Nugget

   It was a waiting game, and whichever waited the longer was bound to win.

   1914, Jack London, “The Siege of the Lancashire Queen”, in Tales of the Fish Patrol

   I hear a voice but it's not yours / I count the score / I can't go on playing the waiting game

   1989, Andy Connell, Corinne Drewery, “Waiting Game”, performed by Swing Out Sister

   Arafat and Sharon have both been playing a waiting game since the Israeli leader's election a year ago.

   2002 February 20, Tony Karon, “New Violence Deepens Sharon's Crisis”, in Time, archived from the original on 22 Oct 2010