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• hide-and-seek
  hide-and-seek

  noun

  one of a variety of children's games in which, according to specified rules, one player gives the others a chance to hide and then attempts to find them.
• hide and seek
  hide and seek

  see play hide and seek.

hide-and-seek

American  

[hahyd-n-seek] / ˈhaɪd nˈsik /

noun

1. one of a variety of children's games in which, according to specified rules, one player gives the others a chance to hide and then attempts to find them.

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hide-and-seek British  

noun

1. a game in which one player covers his eyes and waits while the others hide, and then he tries to find them

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hide and seek Idioms  

1. see play hide and seek.

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Etymology

Origin of hide-and-seek

First recorded in 1665–75

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hide-and-seek hide and seek

Summer nights were hide-and-seek or kick the can throughout our backyards.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 31, 2026

With $9.1 million, fourth place went to Searchlight's "Ready or Not 2," a follow-up to the 2019 original comedy horror in which a bride must survive a deadly game of hide-and-seek with her new in-laws.

From Barron's ● Mar. 22, 2026

In 2019, the wickedly fun horror-comedy “Ready or Not” made hide-and-seek into a terrifying encounter with the occult — and made its star, Samara Weaving, the scream queen du jour.

From Salon ● Jan. 4, 2026

Brian grew up playing baseball, hide-and-seek and kickball with nearly a dozen neighbor kids — staying outdoors until it grew dark under the watchful eye of a rotating cast of parents.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 24, 2025

Except at recess the kids wanted to play hide-and-seek.

From "I Survived the Great Alaska Earthquake, 1964" by Lauren Tarshis

A group of teenage girls played hide and seek around a World War II monument on a hill.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026

No spoilers, but it’s no coincidence that “Here I Come” finally gets more interesting once it tires of hide and seek.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 19, 2026

His sister, however, remains in Afghanistan where she and her husband are "living in a hide and seek game", he says.

From BBC ● Jun. 9, 2025

“I know! I am very good at playing hide and seek with black holes”, quotes radio waves.

From Space Scoop ● Mar. 27, 2025

My brother and I used to play hide and seek in the long, narrow hallways, and on and under the stairs.

From "Black Boy" by Richard Wright