play cat and mouse
Meaning: To toy with someone one has power over.
Language: English
Literally: (Already vivid in English)
Example: “The lawyers played cat and mouse with the witness for an hour.”
Category: Animals
Origin: A cat often releases a caught mouse and pounces again rather than killing it at once. Martin Luther wrote in the 16th century that the cat's play is the mouse's death, and the phrase is common in English from the 17th century.
Equivalents in other languages
- German: mit jemandem Katz und Maus spielen — literally: to play cat and mouse with someone
More idioms — Animals
- keep someone on a short leash — To keep someone under close control.
- rein someone in — To bring someone under control.
- smell a rat — To sense that something dishonest is going on.
- have a bee in one's bonnet — To be obsessed with one idea.
- when pigs fly — Never.
- not turn a hair — To show no reaction at all.
More English idioms
- crunch time — The decisive moment, when there is no more time left.
- blow me down — An exclamation of complete surprise.
- get things back on track — To bring a situation back under control after it has gone wrong.
- be in for a rude awakening — To be about to discover an unpleasant truth.
- carry coals to Newcastle — To do something completely unnecessary.
- hunky-dory — Perfectly fine.
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