games

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of game.

   Several new video games were released this month.

   The tournament featured chess games lasting well over four hours.

   Note

   Most often an ordinary count plural: two games of chess, a shelf of board games. In British schools, though, the plural also names a subject. Sports lessons are simply "games" (we have games on Thursday), usually without an article. In that use the word stays plural in form even when it refers to a single timetabled period.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of game.

   My brother games competitively in regional tournaments most weekends.

   Whenever a loophole appears, she games the system to her own advantage.

   Note

   One spelling serves two quite different verbs, and the presence of an object is what tells them apart. With no object it means plays or gambles: he games most evenings. With an object it means exploits, as in "she games the system" or "games the rules": working a loophole against the spirit of the rules to get what they would otherwise deny.

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