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Reader question:

In this headline – British men stay single longer to play the field – what does "play the field" mean exactly?

My comments:

The first part of the sentence tells the story – they want to stay single longer.

It doesn't mean they want to stay single and sulk, though. No, they want to date a lot of women instead. They want to fool around. They just don't want to get married and stuck with one woman.

Now definitions. The field is the playground, or as they say the field of play in a sports game. Take the field as the whole field. That's a good way of looking at it, I think. To play the whole field is, therefore, to play everywhere and not get stuck, say, in one corner.

When British men want to stay single and play the field, they don't want to get married. According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, to play the field means to "have sexual relationships with a lot of people".

But obviously, people play the field in more areas than one. In business for example, when a company wants to play the field before making a deal, it wants to look around and explore a lot instead of rushing into a deal with the first possible partner. Hence, to play the field means to "avoid exclusive attachment to one person or activity". That's a definition given by to the Oxford dictionary, and a very apt one it is too.

Now, let's use some real examples to firm up the impression. Explanations that follow each example are mine.

1. Paul McCartney 'Playing the Field' - Trans World News, April 6, 2008.

In other words, the former Beetle is not pining to get married again.

2. Yahoo still looking to play the field - Shanghai Daily, February 20, 2008.

Like many a pretty girl, Yahoo plays hard to get.

3. Paris Hilton returns to play the field - MSNBC, March 23, 2006.

Paris is back on the block. 'Nough said.

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.