Cat and mouse, often expressed as cat-and-mouse game, is an English-language idiom that means "a contrived action involving constant pursuit, near captures, and repeated escapes."[1] The "cat" is unable to secure a definitive victory over the "mouse", who, despite not being able to defeat the cat, is able to avoid capture. In extreme cases, the idiom may imply that the contest is never-ending. The term is derived from the hunting behavior of domestic cats, which often appear to "play" with prey by releasing it after capture. This behavior may arise from an instinctive imperative to ensure that the prey is weak enough to be killed without endangering the cat.[2]
In colloquial usage, it has often been generalized to mean the advantage constantly shifts between the contestants, leading to an impasse or de facto stalemate.[citation needed] In classical game theory, cat and mouse classifies as a "copycat" archetype whereby there exists no equilibrium, and most importantly, no endgame, its two protagonists, Dot and Ditto, running amok in their game space to infinity, with no endpoint to their game anywhere in sight attributable to a defective reward system; conflicting incentives. Theoretical active reading on "cat and mouse," or "Dot and Ditto" is ominous in its implication; multiple protagonists, each armed a passive strategy, can remain theoretically locked in total perpetual war indefinitely, wholly unable to rise to a plateau sufficient to intellectualize their plight.[citation needed]
The term has also been used to refer to the game hide-and-seek.
See also
The phrase cat-and-mouse is used in a Wikiversity essay on creating quizzes for Wikimedia projects.
mouse, look, mouse, wiktionary, free, dictionary, other, uses, disambiguation, often, expressed, mouse, game, english, language, idiom, that, means, contrived, action, involving, constant, pursuit, near, captures, repeated, escapes, unable, secure, definitive,. Look up cat and mouse in Wiktionary the free dictionary For other uses see Cat and mouse disambiguation Cat and mouse often expressed as cat and mouse game is an English language idiom that means a contrived action involving constant pursuit near captures and repeated escapes 1 The cat is unable to secure a definitive victory over the mouse who despite not being able to defeat the cat is able to avoid capture In extreme cases the idiom may imply that the contest is never ending The term is derived from the hunting behavior of domestic cats which often appear to play with prey by releasing it after capture This behavior may arise from an instinctive imperative to ensure that the prey is weak enough to be killed without endangering the cat 2 In colloquial usage it has often been generalized to mean the advantage constantly shifts between the contestants leading to an impasse or de facto stalemate citation needed In classical game theory cat and mouse classifies as a copycat archetype whereby there exists no equilibrium and most importantly no endgame its two protagonists Dot and Ditto running amok in their game space to infinity with no endpoint to their game anywhere in sight attributable to a defective reward system conflicting incentives Theoretical active reading on cat and mouse or Dot and Ditto is ominous in its implication multiple protagonists each armed a passive strategy can remain theoretically locked in total perpetual war indefinitely wholly unable to rise to a plateau sufficient to intellectualize their plight citation needed The term has also been used to refer to the game hide and seek See also Edit The phrase cat and mouse is used in a Wikiversity essay on creating quizzes for Wikimedia projects Cat play and toys Cat and Mouse in Partnership a Brothers Grimm fairytale Tom and Jerry cartoons Red Queen s race Arms race Belling the catReferences Edit cat and mouse Merriam Webster Online Dictionary Merriam Webster Retrieved 2008 07 23 Why do cats play with their food Arizona Daily Sun Archived from the original on 19 March 2011 Retrieved 15 August 2011 This vocabulary related article is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Cat and mouse amp oldid 1111756788, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
