hare and hounds

American  

noun

1. an outdoor game in which certain players, the hares, start off in advance on a long run, scattering small pieces of paper, called the scent, with the other players, the hounds, following the trail so marked in an effort to catch the hares before they reach a designated point.

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hare and hounds British  

noun

1. (functioning as singular) a game in which certain players ( hares ) run across country scattering pieces of paper that the other players ( hounds ) follow in an attempt to catch the hares

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Etymology

Origin of hare and hounds

First recorded in 1835–45

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hare and hounds

There are two kinds of 'cross-country running—the paper-chase, sometimes called hare and hounds, and the club run over a fixed course.

From Harper's Round Table, July 16, 1895 by Various

Here they found the trail very clearly marked, as in the old game of hare and hounds where the point of a new departure is marked by a bunch of cut paper.

From Frontier Boys in Frisco by Roosevelt, Wyn

You will see, the very first game we play at hare and hounds I shall beat you.

From My Mother's Rival Everyday Life Library No. 4 by Brame, Charlotte M.

Never were there such hills for hare and hounds.

From Recreations of Christopher North, Volume I (of 2) by Wilson, John Lyde

So they immediately began to play at hare and hounds.

From The Serapion Brethren, Vol. I. by Hoffmann, Ernst Theodor Wilhelm