play cat and mouse

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Idioms and Phrases

Amuse 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.

Related Words

afflict
annoy
bedevil
bother
harass
hound
hurt
irritate
mistreat
molest
nag
pester
plague
smite
tease
torture
vex

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

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