Word.ws English Dictionary

holding with the hare and running with the hounds

holding with the hare and running with the hounds is the present participle and gerund 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 holding with the hare and running with the hounds

What is holding with the hare and running with the hounds the present participle and gerund of?
Holding with the hare and running with the hounds is the present participle and gerund of hold with the hare and run with the hounds.

Words near holding with the hare and running with the hounds in the dictionary

  1. holding up a mirror to
  2. holding up as
  3. holding up one's end
  4. holding water
  5. holding with
  6. holding with the hare and running with the hounds
  7. holdingly
  8. holdings
  9. holdless
  10. holdlessness
  11. holdman

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: holding with the hare and running 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.

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