Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - power play

also power-play (power plays) 1. A power play is an attempt to gain an advantage by showing that you are more powerful than another person or organization, for example in a business relationship or negotiation. Their politics consisted of unstable power-plays between rival groups. N-COUNT 2. In a game of ice hockey, power play is a period of time when one team has more players because one or more of the other team is in the penalty box. N-UNCOUNT