To make someone fool by playing tricks, to annoy or tease someone

Etymology:

  • You see how cat play tricks to cheat the little mouse by sometimes letting it go and catching it again. Similarly, people who deceive helpless people play cat and mouse with them. In 1913 in England, the phrase became quite popular when suffragettes, got arrested for doing civil disobedience, which went for hunger strike in jail. Later, a Law was passed by the parliament to release prisoners who denied eating, but on finding suffragettes healthy, they were arrested again which made people called this law as cat and mouse Act.
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Anna played cat and mouse with his younger sister by not letting her have her favorite ice- cream.

Submitted on February 25, 2019

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    "Play Cat and Mouse." Phrases.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 23 Nov. 2024. <https://www.phrases.com/phrase/play-cat-and-mouse_44937>.

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