cat-and-mouse
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
A situation where two parties engage in a game of pursuit and evasion
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Tình huống mà hai bên tham gia vào một trò chơi đuổi bắt
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: a cat chasing a mouse
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The detective played cat-and-mouse with the suspect for weeks
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “cat-and-mouse” mean?
A situation where two parties engage in a game of pursuit and evasion Literally: a cat chasing a mouse
Is “cat-and-mouse” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.