paperchasen.
/ˈpeɪpətʃeɪs/, U.S. /ˈpeɪpərˌtʃeɪs/ A cross-country race in which the runners follow a trail marked by torn-up paper; = hare and hounds n. at hare n. Compounds 1b. Also in extended use: a discernible yet often over-elaborate sequence or trail that can be followed with some effort; (also) excessive bureaucracy.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > office > [noun] > officialism or bureaucracy
red tape1736
bureaucracy1815
bureauism1829
red-tapery1831
red-tapism1834
officiality1841
functionarism1842
officialism1849
red-tapedom1850
red tapeworm1851
tapism1852
green-ferret1853
officialty1853
paperasserie1856
paperchase1856
paper-chasing1876
departmentalism1886
Whitehallism1915
striped trousers1958
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > children's game > hiding or chasing game > [noun] > hare and hounds
hunt the foxa1600
hunt the hare1762
fox and hounds1821
hare and hounds1839
fox-chase1856
paperchase1856
paper hunt1871
1856 J. Payn in Househ. Words 26 Jan. 28/2 What leapers of brooks, what runners in paper chases!
1862 G. A. Sala Seven Sons Mammon III. x. 257 The wind is tempered even to the shorn schoolboy, and the Etonian made up for less luxury by more football and more paper chases.
1892 Cornhill Mag. July 15 How can the captain so forget himself as to lead them a paper chase?
1932 Times Lit. Suppl. 9 June 425/4 This is not the usual paper-chase of clues from crime to detection.
1994 Our Schools, our Selves Nov. 51 The individual elementary school, still struggling along with few additional staff to respond to the paper chase generated by such a huge administration.
2001 Wire June 92/3 An audio-visual event celebrating ‘the fields of British culture..the barn dance; crafty-arts;..the occasional paperchase; and the all-important tombola’.
Derivatives
ˈpaper-chaser n. a competitor in a paperchase; (also) a person who works in an office; a bureaucrat.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > office > holder of office > [noun] > bureaucrat or bureaucratist
bureaucrat1832
paper-chaser1884
paper-pusher1942
rond de cuir1963
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > children's game > hiding or chasing game > [noun] > hare and hounds > participant
whipper-in1855
hound1857
hare1883
paper-chaser1884
harrier1891
1884 Manch. Examiner 6 Dec. 5/4 There are by-roads and field-paths enough..to satisfy the wants of the paper chasers.
1984 Economist (Nexis) 12 May 58 It took..the present minister for public administration, more than a year simply to measure the size of the civil service... Mr Moscoso wants the state to employ fewer paper-chasers.
2000 Oregonian (Portland, Oregon) (Nexis) 6 Apr. (Living section) e3 The whole batch of paper-chasers was trotting across the bridge, following the paper through East Portland and suburbs toward Irvington.
ˈpaper-chasing n. the action or practice of conducting or competing in paperchases; (also) bureaucracy.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > office > [noun] > officialism or bureaucracy
red tape1736
bureaucracy1815
bureauism1829
red-tapery1831
red-tapism1834
officiality1841
functionarism1842
officialism1849
red-tapedom1850
red tapeworm1851
tapism1852
green-ferret1853
officialty1853
paperasserie1856
paperchase1856
paper-chasing1876
departmentalism1886
Whitehallism1915
striped trousers1958
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > children's game > hiding or chasing game > [adjective] > paper-chasing
paper-chasing1876
1876 Log Lett. from Challenger 399 You can ride..across country, glorious for paper-chasing or hunting.
1989 T. Clancy Clear & Present Danger xxiv. 528 Investigations of this sort were mainly exercises in paper-chasing and analysis.
2002 New Straits Times (Malaysia) (Nexis) 15 July (Nation section) 12 Students..took part in group activities, which included story telling, radio announcing, paper chasing and anagram forming.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1856