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that means "a contrived action involving constant pursuit, near captures, and repeated escapes." 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
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In colloquial usage, it has often been generalized to mean the advantage constantly shifts between the contestants, leading to an
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stalemate. Furthermore, the term has been used to refer to the game
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