play possum

Etymology
English +  (from ), from the behaviour of the, feigning death when threatened. First documented 1822.

Verb

 * 1)  To feign death; to remain quiet and still to escape attention or remain undetected; to lie low.
 * To keep the focus away from his client, the lawyer basically played possum during the entire complex trial, and his tactic paid off with an acquittal.
 * 1)  To feign sleep, illness, etc.
 * 2)  To dissemble or to feign ignorance; to disguise or conceal something in order to deceive.
 * 3) * 1858, James Russell Lowell, in a letter to O.W. Holmes, collected in The Complete Writings of... p31
 * You have been holding-in all this while — possumus omnes, we all play the ’possum...
 * 1)  To dissemble or to feign ignorance; to disguise or conceal something in order to deceive.
 * 2) * 1858, James Russell Lowell, in a letter to O.W. Holmes, collected in The Complete Writings of... p31
 * You have been holding-in all this while — possumus omnes, we all play the ’possum...
 * 1) * 1858, James Russell Lowell, in a letter to O.W. Holmes, collected in The Complete Writings of... p31
 * You have been holding-in all this while — possumus omnes, we all play the ’possum...
 * You have been holding-in all this while — possumus omnes, we all play the ’possum...

Translations

 * French:
 * Georgian: თავს იმკვდარუნებს
 * German: sich tot stellen
 * Greek: κάνω τον ψόφιο κοριό
 * Hungarian:, nem ad életjelet, , ,
 * Italian: fingersi morto
 * Korean: 죽은 척 하다
 * Kurdish:
 * Central Kurdish: سەگەسەگە کردن
 * Portuguese: fingir-se de morto, fazer-se de morto
 * Spanish: hacerse el muerto
 * Swedish: spela död


 * Hungarian: alvást színlel, megjátssza, hogy alszik, úgy tesz, mintha aludna, betegnek tetteti magát, betegséget színlel
 * Japanese: 狸寝入りをする
 * Korean: 잠든 척 하다
 * Swedish: låtsassova


 * Hungarian: tudatlanságot színlel, úgy tesz, mintha semmiről nem tudna semmit, játssza a tudatlant