play possum

1. To pretend to be dead, a trick used by opossums to defend themselves from predators: “Everyone thought the old con man had died, but it turned out he was just playing possum.” By extension, it also means “to pretend to be asleep, or to lie low”: “Come on, Harry, open your door. You can't play possum forever.”

Idioms and Phrases

Pretend to be dead or asleep, as in Max always plays possum when it's time to clean up his room . This expression alludes to the fact that the opossum falls into an apparent coma when caught, giving the appearance of death. [1820s]

Example Sentences

Any chance that the M’s were playing possum with Marte and Arroyo?

From Seattle Times

After running the simulation thousands of times, the researchers found that “playing possum” indeed helped the antlions: It increased the survival rate in a given patch by about 20 percent.

From New York Times

At first, I considered playing possum — not responding.

From Los Angeles Times

Someone might be playing possum with great cards, but it’s worth putting out a larger bet to see if you can exploit their weakness and scare them into folding.

From Golf Digest

“Alternative viewpoints”? It’s exasperating to watch a smart woman play possum like this — not just in the interviews but in the writing, especially when her conclusions don’t tell us anything we didn’t know before.

From New York Times