What does "play out" mean?

5 posts / 0 new
Super Membro
<a href="/pt-br/translator/alexhood" class="userpopupinfo" rel="user1233953">AlexHood <div class="author_icon" title="Page author" ></div></a>
Associou-se em: 28.01.2015
Pending moderation

Hello everybody,
I was trying to translate a song called "Every Night" (sung by Paul McCartney) when I saw the phrase "I want to play out" and I don't know what it means. I found many definitions but I don't think they make sense in the song and I am confused.

Here are the lyrics of the song:

Ev'ry night i just wanna go out,
Get out of my head.
Ev'ry day i don't wanna get up,
Get out of my bed.
Ev'ry night i want to play out
And ev'ry day i wanna do-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh.
But tonight i just wanna stay in
And be with you-oo,
And be with you.

Thank you.

Convidado
Convidado

"play out" would likely mean to do something to the extent where one's energy is exhausted. For example, running until you collapse might be termed "playing out".

I haven't seen "play out" used in this context much-- usually it's either transitive ("I want to play my heart out") or in a fixed phrase ("Let's see how things play out").

Super Membro
<a href="/pt-br/translator/alexhood" class="userpopupinfo" rel="user1233953">AlexHood <div class="author_icon" title="Page author" ></div></a>
Associou-se em: 28.01.2015

Thank you very much for your help!

Moderador Distanciado amoRaЯoma
<a href="/pt-br/translator/evfokas" class="userpopupinfo" rel="user1087154">evfokas </a>
Associou-se em: 29.06.2011

Although ElDynamite's answer is correct I don't think that 'play out' is a phrasal verb in this context, it's just what it says "play" out in contrast with 'stay in' mentioned below

Membro
<a href="/pt-br/translator/danstrans" class="userpopupinfo" rel="user1234834">DansTrans </a>
Associou-se em: 05.02.2015

You have to remember that Paul McCartney is English so the meaning of "play out" in this context is literally "to go outside and play". More specifically, here it means something like go to bars and clubs and be with friends or meet new people and drink and have a good time.