cat and mouse
cat and mouse noun: a relationship in which two parties closely monitor and challenge one another in a suspicious or self-protective manner, often because each party is attempting to gain an advantage over the other. Also the alternative form of cat-and-mouse.
Noun
cat and mouse (uncountable)
- A relationship in which two parties closely monitor and challenge one another in a suspicious or self-protective manner, often because each party is attempting to gain an advantage over the other.
- The Allied and the enemy submarine played a game of cat and mouse, checking up on each other's whereabouts and strategies.
- The hackers played a cat and mouse game with the system administrators: the hackers kept trying new tricks, and the system administrators kept mounting electronic defenses.
- A form of attack in which the attacker toys with the victim by inflicting minor damage or letting the victim have futile hopes of escape before finally finishing the victim off.
- He was thinking how wonderful this game of cat and mouse was. He loved the game and the feeling of control he had over this poor innocent girl.2009, Judith C. Issette, Messenger of Death, page 34
- The payback for that would come in the form of a prolonged game of cat and mouse, finally culminating in a deadly game that he had perfected years earlier.2009, Jarlon Magee, Travel in Fear
- A children's game in which one player (the "cat") attempts to break through a ring of players to catch another player (the "mouse") in the centre.
Also used as
cat and mouse is also the alternative form of cat-and-mouse.
cat and mouse meaning in Telugu
cat and mouse in Telugu
- two keeping check on one another
- పిల్లీ ఎలుకా దొంగాట pillī elukā doṅgāṭa
Examples of cat and mouse in a sentence
- In practice, however, it is extremely difficult to form a new union and the unions are engaged in a constant game of cat and mouse with the Registrar.2007, Marvin J. Levine, Worker Rights and Labor Standards in Asia’s Four New Tigers:
- She loved their daily rides, the easy banter, the flirtatious game of cat and mouse they played.2014, Alison Weir, The Marriage Game:
- She told of narrow escapes and a harried game of cat and mouse, until eventually she'd reached the darkened jungle in which Torys had found her.2014, Mark Derbyshire, New Worlds, page 30:
Forms of cat and mouse
| third-person singular present | cat and mouses |
|---|---|
| present participle | cat and mousing |
| past participle | cat and moused |
| past | cat and moused |
Questions about cat and mouse
- What does cat and mouse mean?
- Cat and mouse means a relationship in which two parties closely monitor and challenge one another in a suspicious or self-protective manner, often because each party is attempting to gain an advantage over the other.
- What is cat and mouse in Telugu?
- Cat and mouse in Telugu is పిల్లీ ఎలుకా దొంగాట (pillī elukā doṅgāṭa). See Cat and mouse meaning in Telugu.
- How do you use cat and mouse in a sentence?
- In practice, however, it is extremely difficult to form a new union and the unions are engaged in a constant game of cat and mouse with the Registrar.
- What part of speech is cat and mouse?
- Cat and mouse is a noun.
Words near cat and mouse in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: cat and mouse (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “cat and mouse.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cat_and_mouse. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.