From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishplay off phrasal verb1 British English if people or teams play off, they play the last game in a sports competition, in order to decide who is the winner The top two teams will play off at Twickenham for the county title.2 play off somebody/something American English to deliberately use a fact, action, idea etc in order to make what you are doing better or to get an advantage The two musicians played off each other in a piece of inspired improvisation. → play→ See Verb tableplay-offˈplay-off noun [countable] 1 DS British English a game played to decide who will win after a previous game has ended with two teams or players having equal points2 [usually plural] American English a game, usually one of a series of games, played by the best teams or players in a competition in order to decide the final winner The Lakers will meet the Bulls in the playoffs.
Examples from the Corpus
play-off• Gould was sacked after a stormy 14 months following Albion's failure to at least make the Third Division promotion play-offs.• The drama both leading to and during the play-off was intense.• First two go up; next 4 fight it out in the play-offs.• We had to win to get into the play-offs and they needed to win to stay in the League.• The 24-year-old central defender will have his right leg immobilised for six weeks and will miss the play-offs should Boro qualify.• The best they can hope for is the No.2 spot or the play-offs. 