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

The Rover boys had come to Putnam Hall in the fall, and now summer sports were cast aside among the pupils, and football and hare and hounds became the rage.

From The Rover Boys at School by Stratemeyer, Edward

HISP.; the vase showing a coursing match with the hare and hounds in relief, coins, pottery, brooches, and other jewellery.

From The Cathedral Church of Peterborough A Description Of Its Fabric And A Brief History Of The Episcopal See by Sweeting, W. D. (Walter Debenham)

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

Paper chases, or hare and hounds as they are sometimes called, were openly arranged and encouraged; and if boys liked to take walks in the country, they could do so with a minimum of risk.

From Dr. Jolliffe's Boys by Feller, Frank

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