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

We had met him once in the park, a horde of children dashing through the shrubbery with loud hurrahs; catch, and hare and hounds, were our favorite games.

From The Children of the World by Heyse, Paul

But I found I was too lame, from the knocking about I had got in the upset vehicle, for any game of hare and hounds.

From Philip Winwood A Sketch of the Domestic History of an American Captain in the War of Independence; Embracing Events that Occurred between and during the Years 1763 and 1786, in New York and London: written by His Enemy in War, Herbert Russell, Lieutenant in the Loyalist Forces. by Stephens, Robert Neilson

The familiar hare and hounds pattern of nightmare.

From Shock Treatment by Mullen, Stanley

But far from underrating the caged fox or anise-seed bag, hare and hounds would seem to afford the better sport.

From Patroclus and Penelope A Chat in the Saddle by Dodge, Theodore Ayrault

"The entire Catholic Church might play hare and hounds with the Holy Father as huntsman and the Cardinals as the whips, through Mr. Buxton's secret labyrinths."

From By What Authority? by Benson, Robert Hugh