Word.ws English Dictionary

held with the hare and ran with the hounds

held with the hare and ran with the hounds is the simple past of hold with the hare and run with the hounds.

Meaning of hold with the hare and run with the hounds

Verb

hold with the hare and run with the hounds (third-person singular simple present holds with the hare and runs with the hounds, present participle holding with the hare and running with the hounds, simple past held with the hare and ran with the hounds, past participle held with the hare and run with the hounds)

  1. (dated, idiomatic) To oppose an action or behavior and yet engage in the same action or behavior; to be a hypocrite.
    • Well, if you ask me, Pastor Hawkins is trying to hold with the hare and run with the hounds by opposing casino gambling when his church operates a bingo game every Thursday night.
  2. (dated, idiomatic) To remain neutral by attempting to placate two factions or both sides of a controversy.
    • Julianna needs to be careful if she keeps holding with the hare and running with the hounds; she might wind up making enemies of both labor and management.

Questions about held with the hare and ran with the hounds

What is held with the hare and ran with the hounds the simple past of?
Held with the hare and ran with the hounds is the simple past of hold with the hare and run with the hounds.

Words near held with the hare and ran with the hounds in the dictionary

  1. held up a mirror to
  2. held up as
  3. held up one's end
  4. held water
  5. held with
  6. held with the hare and ran with the hounds
  7. held with the hare and run with the hounds
  8. helda bean
  9. helda beans
  10. heldentenor
  11. heldentenors

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: held with the hare and ran with the hounds (page history and authors); hold with the hare and run with the hounds (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.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “held with the hare and ran with the hounds.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/held_with_the_hare_and_ran_with_the_hounds. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.