Exhausted, used up.
1862. The poor privilege of fawning about the skirts of a played-out codfish aristocracy.—Oregon Argus, Feb. 15.
1864. One remains, here and there, a played-out man, whom circumstances have restrained from going on to absolute suicide.—J. G. Holland, ‘Letters to the Joneses,’ p. 239. (N.E.D.)
1867. Medicines were issued in scanty quantities for a while, in July and August, but they seemed generally a played-out commodity in the Southern Confederacy.—W. L. Goss, ‘The Soldier’s Story,’ pp. 141–2 (Boston).
1869. One large lead, owned by three minors,… may be worth a million or more, as its owners estimate it; but practical men do not pretend to see into the ground, and they know that it may cap, or pinch, or play out entirely.—A. K. McClure, ‘Rocky Mountains,’ p. 267.
1872. He [that Boy] gave me to understand that popguns were played out, but that he had got a squirt and a whip, and considered himself better off than before.—Holmes, ‘The Poet at the Breakfast-Table,’ ch. x.
1888. It was, but an old Government mule that had died because it was played out!—Mrs. Custer, ‘Tenting on the Plains,’ p. 289.
1902. Not many years ago flogging was considered a salutary medicine for a disobedient boy; but now our boys say “flogging is played out.”—Bishop Whipple, ‘Lights and Shadows,’ p. 195.
