cat and mouse

[ kat uhn mous ]

noun

1. 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.
2. Western U.S. tick-tack-toe ( def 1 ).

Word History and Origins

Origin of cat and mouse¹

First recorded in 1910–15

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. 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.

2. 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.

Example Sentences

Review fraud is something of a cat and mouse game, in which shady but increasingly sophisticated fraudsters try to stay one step ahead of platform algorithms.

From Search Engine Watch

As with all user-generated content platforms, the game of online content moderation cat and mouse is never ending.

From Digiday

So Western governments are caught in a cat-and-mouse game and at times it is unclear who is the cat and who the mouse.

From The Daily Beast

He became suspicious and so began what he refers to as a “cat-and-mouse game” between him and his former agency.

From The Daily Beast

The revelations in October began a game of cat-and-mouse between the Demon Killer and the police.

From The Daily Beast

Meanwhile, I don't know what happens to the employees, who are the mouse in this cat-and-mouse game.

From The Daily Beast

Lipkin-Shahak was no stranger to the cat-and-mouse dynamic that has so often kept the Middle East in a chokehold.

From The Daily Beast

Did it mean that, after all, he had been playing at cat-and-mouse with her, as she had at first feared?

From Project Gutenberg

I thought the agony was over, but I didn't give Small credit for cat-and-mouse tendencies.

From Project Gutenberg

How much longer are you going to keep up this fiendish cat-and-mouse sort of game?

From Project Gutenberg

At least, I haven't got that cat-and-mouse kind of patience.

From Project Gutenberg

It was a sort of defiance that he was throwing at me, an ultimatum that I should either end my cat-and-mouse game, or let him go.

From Project Gutenberg