Dictionary

hold with the hare and run with the hounds en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Meanings

1. (dated, idiomatic) To oppose an action or behavior and yet engage in the same action or behavior; to be a hypocrite.
   • Thus Housman's uniformed creations move crookedly; they run with the hare and run with the hounds, and their “meaning” is uncertain. 1967 March, Robert Brainard Pearsall, “The Vendible Values of Housman's Soldiery”, in PMLA, volume 82, number 1, Modern Language Association of America, →DOI, pages 85–90:
   • Well, if you ask me, Pastor Hawkins is trying to hold with the hare and run with the hounds by opposing casino gambling when his church operates a bingo game every Thursday night.
   • Thousands try to hold with the hare and run with the hounds, they are for God and Mammon, Christ and Belial, truth and error, and so are “neither hot nor cold.” 1874, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, An Earnest Warning on Lukewarmness, archived from the original on 24 Jul 2025:
   • […] Laddes that canne holde with the Hare and hunt with the Hounde, and (as the Scripture termeth them) time-seruers and menpleasers. 1571, Arthur Golding, “Epistle Dedicatorie”, in The Psalms of David and others. With M. John Calvin Commentaries, page xxix (29):
2. (dated, idiomatic) To remain neutral by attempting to placate two factions or both sides of a controversy.
   • How happy is the man who knows really how to hold with the hare and run with the hounds! in other words, to be equally agreeable to both husband and wife. 1871 October, George Webbe Dasent, “Three to One”, in M[ary] E[lizabeth] Braddon, editor, Belgravia, London: Willmer & Rogers, chapter iv. the invitations are accepted., page 406:
   • Eleventhly, There is yet another profeſſor ; and he is for God and for Baal too, he can be any thing, for any company : he can throw ſtones with both hands, […] he'll hold with the hair, and run with the hound, he carries fire in one hand, and water i'th t'other^([sic – meaning in th'other]) ; […] 1676, John Bunyan, The Strait Gate, or, Great Difficulty of Going to Heaven, London: Francis Smith, page 144:
   • Julianna needs to be careful if she keeps holding with the hare and running with the hounds; she might wind up making enemies of both labor and management.

Forms

Translations (2)

it from which the substantive cerchiobottista to denote the person who acts in such a way (Translations) · it dare un colpo al cerchio e uno alla botte (Translations)