play for, v. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

play for v.

1. (US Und.) to treat with contempt or as a fool; to subject to a confidence trick.

1882		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 1 Apr. 2/2: Oscar Wilde [...] is a very verdant young man, and has been played for a [...] queer fish.
1893		S. Crane Maggie, a Girl of the Streets (2001) 28: Gawd [...] I wonner if I’ve been played for a duffer.
1904		Tacoma Times (Wash.) 7 June 3/3: I was ‘played for a stool’ — suspected of being an informer.
1909		C.B. Chrysler White Slavery 34: This man is the ‘slickest and most dangerous of all’ [...] None of your common ‘molls’ for him – he plays for the ‘swell Janes’.
1919		Van Loan ‘The National Commission Decides’ in Score by Innings (2004) 300: I gave you boys a chance, and you played me for a boob.
1934		L. Berg Prison Nurse (1964) 51: I knew even then I was being played for a boob.
1938		M. Rand ‘Clip-Joint Chisellers’ in Ten Story Gang Aug. 🌐 So you think you’re putting one over on me and playing me for a sap.
1958		Ella Fitzgerald ‘You’re an Old Smoothie’ 🎵 Poor me, you played me for a sap.
1969		C. Himes Blind Man with a Pistol (1971) 17: Both [policemen] had a strong suspicion he was playing them for fools.
1979		‘Iceberg Slim’ Airtight Willie and Me 51: Sugarface, pass him up . . . don’t play for him.
1989		A. Vachss Hard Candy (1990) 164: You keep playing me for something I’m not.
1993		M. Myers et al. Wayne’s World II [film script] Maybe I was about to be played for a sap, but I couldn’t be sure.
1999		‘Master Pimp’ Pimp’s Rap 167: He’ll play you for a fool cause he thinks that’s cool.

2. to pose as.

1937

(con. 1905–25) E.H. Sutherland Professional Thief (1956) 170: One of the boys suggested playing for a painter at one o’clock in the morning.

In phrases

play for a chump (v.) (also play a chump, play for a clown, ...mug) [chump n. (3)/clown n. (1)/mug n.¹ (2a)]

(orig. US black) to treat like a fool.

1887		Omaha Dly Bee (NE) 6 Feb. 10/5: Mr. W. walked away, muttering at the man who was trying to play him for a chump.
1906		Our Paper (Mass. Reformatory) 22 514/2: I thought she was different from the rest and wouldn’t play me for a chump.
1913		Day Book (Chicago) 13 June 29/1: They Did Him. They played him for a chump.
1922		Morn. Tulsa Dly World (OK) 30 Aug. 2/1: [headline] Warned ‘Boob’ Hubby [...] He was being ‘played a chump’.
1931		L. Johnson ‘Go Back to Your No-Good Man’ 🎵 Don’t you think because I love you, you can play me for a chump to my face.
1935		Z.N. Hurston Mules and Men (1995) 173: Five spot is five years you played me for a clown.
1937		P. Cheyney Dames Don’t Care (1960) 88: She imagines maybe that she can play me for a mug.
1956		J. Thompson ‘The Cellini Chalice’ in Fireworks (1988) 78: He was [...] unable to to look at her for long without playing her for a chump. [Ibid.] 94: Mitch Allison, the hustler’s hustler [...] had been played for a chump!
1988		P. Monette Midnight Run 187: ‘You can’t play me for a chump, Tony.’ Tony’s nostrils flared. [...] He was barely holding back the rage.
1997		D. Lamb Trumpet is Blown 70: He knew that Benjamin was trying to play him for a chump.
2008		S.T. Woodward Cadillac Orpheus 60: So you’ve decided to see if you can play me for a chump today, eh? Sweet man, Coots.

play for a sucker (v.) [sucker n.¹ (3b)]

(US) to deceive a gullible victim.

1876		Stanislaus County West News 30 June 1/4: The Austin Indians played him for a sucker [DA].
1886		Lantern (N.O.) 20 Oct. 3: Some blokes can never see when they are being played for suckers and Charles is one of ’m.
1909		J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era.
1921		P. & T. Casey Gay-cat 207: What have yuh got aginst him? Has he played yer fur a sucker?
1925		D. Hammett ‘Dead Yellow Women’ Story Omnibus (1966) 159: You’re a liar and you’re a boob, and I’ve been playing you for a sucker.
1927		(con. 1918) J. Stevens Mattock 273: Hopes to play him for a sucker and work him into puttin’ the stuff over with the colonel.
1933		J. Spenser Limey 40: He would laugh when we told him that some new sweetie was [...] ‘playing him for a sucker’.
1937		P. Cheyney Dames Don’t Care (1960) 48: I reckon that one could play him for a sucker too.
1942		R. Chandler High Window 195: I made a mistake calling you in the first place. That was my dislike of being played for a sucker, as you would say, by a hard-boiled little animal like Linda.
1953		E. Hunter ‘Sucker’ in Jungle Kids (1967) 93: Dave, they’re trying to play me for a sucker.
1963		‘Nino Culotta’ Gone Fishin’ 175: We’re bein’ played for a couple o’ suckers.
1967		K. Kolb Getting Straight 125: It occurred to me you might think you were playing me for a sucker, and I don’t buy that.
1993		(con. 1969) N.L. Russell Suicide Charlie 18: I should have realized right then that I was being played for a sucker.
1999		K. Sampson Powder 49: They’d been played for a sucker all along.