From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
play up
v 1: move into the foreground to make more visible or prominent;
"The introduction highlighted the speaker's distinguished
career in linguistics" [syn: foreground, highlight,
spotlight, play up] [ant: background, downplay,
play down]
2: ingratiate oneself to; often with insincere behavior; "She is
playing up to the chairman" [syn: cozy up, cotton up,
shine up, play up, sidle up, suck up]