paper chase
Americannoun
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the effort to earn a diploma or college degree, especially in law, or a professional certificate or license.
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the writing of assignments and reports, collecting of supporting documents, filling out of forms, and other paperwork necessary to obtain a college degree or a professional certificate or license, apply for financial aid or a bank loan, etc.
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of paper chase
First recorded in 1855–60
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“I just read like crazy all the time,” said King, who has turned her paper chase into something of a cause.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2025
Like all migrants, he then had to contend with obstacles ranging from the paper chase needed for a bank account and apartment, through to just getting an appointment to have his work permit approved.
From Reuters ● Feb. 23, 2023
After the war, people continued to filter through Istanbul toward Palestine, but the flotillas, special trains, and desperate paper chase began to slow as the immediate danger to the surviving refugees lessened.
From Slate ● Sep. 24, 2014
The Maldives government is beginning the paper chase, but it lacks resources to unravel a complex trail that it assumes runs through the British Channel Islands, Singapore and Malaysia.
From New York Times ● Jun. 11, 2010
"If it's a paper chase," said the Virginian, "they'll drop no more along here."
From The Virginian, a Horseman of the Plains by Wister, Owen
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
