| 词汇 | play cat and mouse |
| 释义 | Idiom play cat and mouse (with someone) Theme: CONTROL to (literally or figuratively) capture and release someone over and over. (Fixed order.)The police played cat and mouse with the suspect until they had sufficient evidence to make an arrest.Tom had been playing cat and mouse with Ann. Finally she got tired of it and broke up with him. Idiom play cat and mouseplay (a game of) cat and mouse 1. to repeatedly try to make someone react in a way that will cause them problems. Enemy warplanes have been playing a deadly game of cat and mouse, trying to bring American fighter planes into range of their missiles. 2. to try to find someone who is hiding from you. Border agents played cat and mouse with people trying to enter the country illegally. Etymology: based on the way a cat plays with a mouse before killing it play cat and mouse1. To engage in a suspenseful relationship in which one is being pursued and one is the pursuer. The marshals and the fugitive have been playing cat and mouse for months now, but they may finally have him cornered. 2. To play with or tease someone before turning violent or vicious, likened to the way a cat toys with a mouse before killing it. If we have any hopes of getting the prisoner to crack, we need to play cat and mouse now, in the early stages of the interrogation. 3. To play a game in which children stand in a circle and raise their arms to let one player into the middle and then lower their arms to keep out a second player, who is chasing the first. Let's play cat and mouse! I'll go first—everybody else, circle up! play cat and mouse with someoneFig. to be coy and evasive with someone. I know what you are up to. Don't play cat and mouse with me! I wish that they wouldn't play cat and mouse with me! play cat and mouseAmuse oneself or trifle with, toy with, as in She loved to play cat and mouse with an admirer, acting by turns friendly, indifferent, and jealous . The analogy of a cat toying with a helpless mouse was drawn centuries earlier, but the precise term dates only from the early 1900s. play cat and mouseorplay a game of cat and mouseCOMMON In a contest or dispute, if one person or side plays cat and mouse or plays a game of cat and mouse with another, the first person or side tries to confuse or deceive the second in order to defeat them. He would play cat and mouse with other riders, sometimes waiting until the fourth lap to come from behind and win. A diplomatic game of cat and mouse is being played between the United Nations and the warring factions in the region. Note: You can also talk about a cat and mouse game or a cat and mouse chase or use other nouns in this way. Amos played a cat and mouse game with officers for several hours. They were arrested after a cat-and-mouse chase through the fields. Note: The reference here is to a cat playing with a mouse before killing it. play cat and mouse withmanoeuvre in a way designed alternately to provoke and thwart an opponent.The image here is of the way that a cat toys with a mouse, pretending to release it and then pouncing on it again. cat and mouse, game of/to playToying with a helpless opponent or victim. The cat, ready to pounce, was recorded by Jonathan Swift (“She watches him as a cat would watch a mouse”). The cat-mouse analogy most often has been applied to authorities who may do as they wish with those in their power. |
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