Meaning

verb act (a role) with great restraint

verb play a card lower than (a held high card)

originEtymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁én Proto-Indo-European *h₁entér Proto-Indo-European *(H)n̥dʰí Proto-Indo-European *-ér Proto-Indo-European *(H)n̥dʰér Proto-Germanic *under Proto-West Germanic *undar Old English under- Middle English under- English under- English play English underplay From under- + play.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0