play possum

playing possum
opossum under threat playing dead

Meaning

to feign death; to remain quiet and still to escape attention or remain undetected; to lie low.
to feign sleep, illness, etc.
to dissemble or to feign ignorance; to disguise or conceal something in order to deceive.

English play + possum (from opossum), from the behaviour of the Virginia opossum, feigning death when threatened. First documented 1822.

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