hold with the hare and run with the hounds

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English

Pronunciation

Verb

hold with the hare and run with the hounds (third-person singular simple present holds with the hare and runs with the hounds, present participle holding with the hare and running with the hounds, simple past held with the hare and ran with the hounds, past participle held with the hare and run with the hounds)

  1. (idiomatic, dated) To oppose an action or behavior and yet engage in the same action or behavior; to be a hypocrite.
    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.
    • 1571, Arthur Golding, “Epistle Dedicatorie”, in The Psalms of David and others. With M. John Calvin Commentaries‎, page xxix (29):
      Laddes that canne holde with the Hare and hunt with the Hounde, and (as the Scripture termeth them) time-seruers and menpleasers.
    • 1874, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, An Earnest Warning on Lukewarmness‎, archived from the original on 24 July 2025:
      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.”
    • 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:
      Thus Housman's uniformed creations move crookedly; they run with the hare and run with the hounds, and their “meaning” is uncertain.
  2. (idiomatic, dated) To remain neutral by attempting to placate two factions or both sides of a controversy.
    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.
    • 1676, John Bunyan, The Strait Gate, or, Great Difficulty of Going to Heaven‎, London: Francis Smith, page 144:
      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 ;
    • 1871 October, George Webbe Dasent, “Three to One”, in M E Braddon, editor, Belgravia, London: Willmer & Rogers, chapter iv. the invitations are accepted., page 406:
      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.
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