play it cool

1. Act cautiously and shrewdly, as in When they asked how much she earned, she played it cool . [ Slang ; 1940s]

2. Become or remain calm, as in When they start to tease you, just play it cool . [ Slang ; 1940s]

Example Sentences

After performing “Beautiful Liar,” the darkly EDM single off of their 2023 EP “Reason” and “Who Do You Love,” Joohoney shouted, “Everyone we’re back in L.A.!” before slipping into “Play it Cool” — their club hit featuring Steve Aoki — and ending with the Dream Stage version of the classic “The Gambler” where contest-winning Monbebes performed with them.

From Los Angeles Times

“My publicist asked if I’d be available to talk at the time. I’m not going to change around my day and sit by my phone. I was going to play it cool. The next thing I knew, my phone was blowing up with congratulations. It’s mind-blowing. Sometimes people will say, ‘Academy Award nominee Monica Barbaro,’ and it stops me, whoa!”

From Los Angeles Times

In the Netflix series “Nobody Wants This,” Adam Brody’s hot rabbi is more comfortable telling a woman he likes her than trying to play it cool.

From Los Angeles Times

Wade, the conservative justices would feel that it was the better part of valor to play it cool for a while and let the smoke clear before they launch into another radical assault on American jurisprudence.

From Salon

I have to set aside my Gen-X impulses to play it cool, and say it: She was a martyr, and she paid the price so we can have this moment right now, more than 30 years later.

From Salon