waiting game

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waiting game (plural waiting games)

1. (idiomatic) A strategy or course of action in which one or more parties refrain from direct action until circumstances change in their favor.

   to play the waiting game

   • 1895 November, Louis de Conte, translated by [Jean François Alden] [pseudonyms; Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain)], “Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc. […]”, in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, volume XCI, number DXLVI, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →ISSN, [book I], part II, chapter 20, page 880:

     […] inasmuch as nothing was really and rationally to be hoped for but a long continuance of the siege and wearying out of the English, they were naturally a little afraid of Joan's impetuous notions. He said— “You see, we are sure that the waiting game is the best, whereas you would carry everything by storm.”

   • 1913, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 14, in The Little Nugget:

     With Sam the only menace, I had been prepared to play a purely waiting game, watching proceedings from afar, ready to give my help if necessary.

   • 1914, Jack London, “The Siege of the Lancashire Queen”, in Tales of the Fish Patrol:

     It was a waiting game, and whichever waited the longer was bound to win.

   • 1989, Andy Connell, Corinne Drewery, “Waiting Game”, performed by Swing Out Sister:

     I hear a voice but it's not yours / I count the score / I can't go on playing the waiting game

   • 2002 February 20, Tony Karon, “New Violence Deepens Sharon's Crisis”, in Time‎^[1], archived from the original on 22 October 2010:

     Arafat and Sharon have both been playing a waiting game since the Israeli leader's election a year ago.

• “waiting game”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.