play ball
COOPERATE, collaborate, play the game, show willing, help, lend a hand, assist, contribute, pitch in

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

play ball
play ball (with (someone))
to agree to do something the way someone else wants you to.
Critics say the agency has been pressured to play ball with drug companies.

Related vocabulary: play along with someone/something, go along with someone/something
Etymology: play ball is said to start a baseball game by the official who controls the game
[informal]
to agree to do what someone asks you to do, or to agree to work with someone in order to achieve something together.
Fourteen out of the fifteen nations have agreed to the new restrictions but one country still refuses to play ball.
(usually negative)

[TahlilGaran] English Idioms Dictionary ▲

play ball
cooperate with someone, to join in an effort with others
The young men refused to play ball with the police and were taken to the police station for questioning.

"If you play ball with the new manager things should go well for you."

[TahlilGaran] English Idioms Dictionary ▲

play ball
v. phr.
1. To begin play in a ball game.
When the umpire calls "Play ball," the game begins.
2. informal To join in an effort with others; cooperate.
To get along during Prohibition, many men felt that they had to play ball with gangsters.
A is often good business to play ball with a political machine.

[TahlilGaran] English Idioms Dictionary ▲