View synonyms for

cat and mouse

[kat uhn mous]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

Also called cat and rat.��a children's game in which players in a circle keep a player from moving into or out of the circle and permit a second player to move into or out of the circle to escape the pursuing first player.
Western U.S.��tick-tack-toe.

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Word History and Origins

Origin of cat and mouse¹

First recorded in 1910–15

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Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

play cat and mouse with,
1. to toy or trifle with.
2. to use strategy on one's opponent, especially while waiting to strike.
  The detective played cat and mouse with the suspect.
play cat and mouse, to engage in a gamelike relationship in which evasion and pursuit are used.
They played cat and mouse for a while before she consented to go out with him.

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

Less than a mile from where she disappeared from, press photographers with long lenses trying to get pictures are playing cat and mouse with officers from the Policia Judiciaria - the Portuguese equivalent of the FBI.

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Sgt James Carrington has previously told the BBC the force is "playing a game of cat and mouse" with car cruising organisers, who can often arrange multiple meets at several local locations on one night.

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She said her family had hired two firms of private detectives and she felt it was "like a cat and mouse game".

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So Barkley played a little cat and mouse with him, slowing just a bit before stepping on the gas again and scoring.

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"Goal-kicks have become a game of cat and mouse," added Bardsley.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

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