Cat-and-mouse
adj, noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Alternative form of cat and mouse. alt-of, alternative, uncountable
- 1 To engage in a game of cat and mouse.; To mutually monitor and challenge each other in an attempt to gain advantage. intransitive
"The Cinque Ports' navy had torn up and down the Channel harassing any marauding French; smugglers had cat-and-moused with revenue men over the marshes, into the woods."
- 2 To engage in a game of cat and mouse.; To toy with (one's victim). transitive
"But previously it has only cat-and-moused him, trying to achieve the delicate balance of injuring him and yet not having to eat him alive, he then being too big in popularity to swallow."
- 1 suspenseful, involving alternating roles of attack and defence. idiomatic, not-comparable
"From a cat-and-mouse sequence at a busy airport to a long car chase through Rome to a grand finale aboard a runaway train, each action scene tops the one before it."
Example
More examples"From a cat-and-mouse sequence at a busy airport to a long car chase through Rome to a grand finale aboard a runaway train, each action scene tops the one before it."
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.