first catch your hare
Preserved but no longer current.
It is generally believed that Mrs. Glasse, in the Art of Cookery, gave this direction; but the exact words are, "Take your hare when it is cased, and make a pudding, . . . etc." To "case" means to take off the skin, as in All's Well, iii, 6, "We'll make you some sport with the fox ere we case him." "First catch your hare," however, is a very old phrase, and in the 13th century Bracton (Bk. iv, tit. i, ch. xxi, sec.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “first catch your hare” mean?
It is generally believed that Mrs. Glasse, in the Art of Cookery, gave this direction; but the exact words are, "Take your hare when it is cased, and make a pudding, . . . etc." To "case" means to take off the skin, as in All's Well, iii, 6, "We'll make you some sport with the fox ere we case him." "First catch your hare," however, is a very old phrase, and in the 13th century Bracton (Bk. iv, tit. i, ch. xxi, sec.
Is “first catch your hare” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.