1Pursue in order to catch or catch up with.

1. 1.1 Seek to attain.
   the team are chasing their first home win this season

   Example sentencesExamples

   • A radical change appears to be taking place in the workplace with employees chasing their dreams and seeking greater fulfilment.
   • We have found it harder to chase results compared to teams who have been put together over a long period of time.
   • And people who spend their lives always chasing after pleasure have a good chance of attaining it.
   • No contest, really; and after doing some hard financial sums, I left the day job to chase a few dreams.
   • I decide in that moment to quit my job and to chase adventure full-time.
   • The composure we saw against Italy at Hampden and against Norway in Oslo had gone, blown away by a visiting team chasing a cause.
   • Revenues have nearly doubled to £49 million but losses have increased from £20 million to £37 million as it chases new customers.
   • Hundreds of thousands of people of working age have also moved to the coast to chase the new jobs, although this has led to high levels of unemployment in many areas.
   • Unless you make a horrible screw-up, by and large you aren't chasing business day and night.
   • Jones named an unchanged team to chase Australia's first series win in three years.
   • He's been networking - chasing jobs and setting up lunches and talking about the golf he's been playing on the days he's not here.
   • The graduates are among thousands of others chasing the same jobs each year to repay the spiralling costs of higher education.
   • Opposition parties may chase votes by dividing communities for their own political ends.
   • Some highlights from the research shows that those firms looking beyond Dublin to get out of the traffic jams may not fare any better by chasing the rural idyll.
   • Performance is the only criterion by which a team chasing greatness can judge itself.
   • If we aren't interested in changing the way the country works, but only in chasing after an ebbing political tide, then we will earn nothing but ridicule.
   • But it was not an easy track to victory, with 13 other teams chasing the big prize.
   • It's a contest where players' reputations will either be enhanced or tarnished as two strong teams chase glory.
   • But that was far from the end of the action, with both teams chasing another goal as though their life depended on it.
2. 1.2 Seek the company of (a member of the opposite sex) in an obvious way.
   he spends all his free time chasing girls

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Agatha was a famous beauty from a noble family, who was chased after by the villainous senator.
   • I had always known that my husband wasn't one to chase women.
   • "I don't golf, I don't fish, I'm too old to chase women," he said.
   • I decided that I would no longer chase women like other guys my age.
   • ‘They should be out drinking or chasing the opposite sex, but they are here getting stuck in,’ says Naughton.
   • Ed, Rick and Benett in particular are sad cases and spend most of their time chasing members of the opposite sex.

   Synonyms

   court, woo, pursue, run after, seek the company of, make advances to, make up to, flirt with, romance

   informal chat up, make (sheep's) eyes at, give the come-on to, come on to, be all over

   Australian informal track with, track square with

   dated set one's cap at, pay addresses to, pay suit to, pay court to, seek the hand of, make love to

   archaic spark

2 Drive or cause to go in a specified direction.

1. 2.1no object, with adverbial of direction Rush in a specified direction.
   he chased down the motorway

   Example sentencesExamples

   • I'd chase along the street nearest the river, dodging out side streets to the riverbank.
   • Gone were the rucksacked school kids, chattering and chasing around the old ladies who hobbled along almost in slow motion with yappy dogs and hair in a bun and little trolleys full of bread.
   • We managed to get our group together and chased along the route.

   Synonyms

   rush, dash, race, speed, streak, shoot, charge, career, scramble, scurry, hurry, make haste, hare, fly, pelt

   informal scoot, belt, tear, zip, whip, go like a bat out of hell

   North American informal boogie, hightail, clip

   North American vulgar slang drag/tear/haul ass

   informal, dated cut along

   archaic post, hie

3Try to obtain (something owed or required)

1. 3.1 Try to make contact with (someone) in order to obtain something owed or required.
   the council recently appointed its own team of bailiffs to chase non-payers

   Example sentencesExamples

   • While the number of people on the roll went up, and in parts of New Zealand, people were chasing citizens around the streets to try to get them enrolled, it did not result in more people voting.
   • Do you ever have those days where it feels like all you're doing is nagging and chasing people up in order to get them to do the stuff they'd actually promised to do already?
   • We cannot be reduced to chasing people around who claim to speak for the party.
   • In February 2000 the Council of Mortgage lenders announced that its members had agreed voluntarily not to chase someone for a debt if they have not been contacted within six years.
   • But then I feel like I'm chasing people up more and more to be able to do this.
   • He agreed that it would be good practice to chase people up after two weeks or so in case they had forgotten.
   • She did not have the wherewithal to chase those people down, and, even if she did, she was unlikely to get recompense from them.
   • It makes sense from a lender's point of view as it can chase two people for the full amount rather than one.
   • A very useful and very welcome distraction from people chasing me for money.
   • It was the media's decision to chase people down with cameras at home to try and get them or their families on tape.
   • I spend a lot of time chasing people for information, and it hurts, I tell you.
   • Scarborough Council recently appointed its own team of bailiffs to chase non-payers amid growing concern about a hard core of residents who are flouting the law.
   • The woman found herself being chased by creditors after the Salvation Army member left the home he once shared with her in Walcot.
   • There is talk of the Revenue chasing these people down.
   • Many lenders are heavy users of the courts in chasing customers who have defaulted on mortgage repayments.
   • I even chased people up to make sure they had sent their slips off.
   • But are you saying that you often have to chase people when they're well past the due date?
   • When I forgot to inform the necessary people, they chased me down for the information.
   • A debt-collection agency hired by the phone company to chase customers with overdue bills has been accused of using heavy handed techniques to recover money.

   Synonyms

   pester, harass, harry, nag, plague, hound
2. 3.2 Make further investigation of an unresolved matter.
   the cost of the police time needed to chase up every new offence

   Example sentencesExamples

   • There's a chunk missing from March to November that we still have to chase down.
   • Our chief news correspondent, Charlie Word, joins us from Dunnes Stores, where he has been chasing up on the story.
   • If my passion for finding the truth, if my enthusiasm for chasing up lines of enquiry came across to some people as giving an appearance of bias or pre-judgement then I regret that.
   • He really has been in the forefront of helping us, chasing down leads, looking for terrorists.
   • If you want to know what it is do your own research, I can't be bothered chasing down a link.
   • I'm here chasing up leads in the journalistic and human rights worlds, trying to get information on modern slavery.
   • They're only saying that they are chasing up new leads at the moment.
   • I have been chasing up what Marx says about circulation and distribution in his works.
   • The investigator is now chasing up leads back in the UK.
   • At the same time, when we were chasing down the pardon story that we ran, we didn't come across any other news organization out there beating the same trail.
   • I completely neglected all the telesales leads I had been chasing up.
   • However, such shortcomings are easy to overlook given the ambitious nature of Saco's project and the relentlesness with which she chases down challenging critical concepts.
   • We just decided to chase down the story and see if we could find out more about it.
   • Curran chased down stories for the West Coast alternative press when the alternative press was young.
   • He had picked up a rumour that someone had cracked it, and would spend all night chasing it up, unless he could find something more interesting.
   • He sought to chase the matter up in various ways, in particular by telephone calls to Sir David on about 18 June and to Mr Barnes on 23 June.
   • Or if I do, I should be doing it in the right places - chasing up all those ideas swirling around in my mind that I haven't quite managed to get down in text form yet.
   • But what happens when you try to chase down the source of the claim?
   • While the police chase down leads, Reichs gathers her own evidence.

1An act of pursuing someone or something.

1. 1.1
   short for steeplechase

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Extra races are being proposed for the meeting, currently run over three days from Tuesday to Thursday, including a cross-country chase.
   • But Victor and his team kept faith and the old horse has won some top class handicap chases in recent months.
   • Racing begins at 3.05 and the mixed card consists of four flat events, including two six furlong races, two chases and two hurdles.
   • Meanwhile, the ride he gave Kingscliff in a handicap chase at Ascot was voted the jumps ride of the year by his weighing room colleagues.
   • Apparently the horse jumped particularly well and his trainer expects him to make a big impression in novice chases.
   • Racing will commence at 4.30 and the mixed card will consist of three flat races, three chases and a bumper for five, six and seven year olds.
   • He reminded spectators that hunts were also the backbone of point-to-point race meetings, team chases and a range of social events, as well as the Pony Club - the biggest youth club in the country.
   • Having been unextended in a novice chase at Uttoxeter last November he did not return to the track again until Chepstow in April, where he again won well.
   • It was a fine piece of training by Henry and also said much about the horse's liking for the course, where he had won a valuable chase two years earlier.
   • However, Cheltenham's two major chases, the Gold Cup and the Queen Mother Champion Chase, have been more elusive and the Festival has not always been a happy hunting ground for Pipe.
   • Among the highlights of the season have been joining the elite club of jockeys to ride a winner at every jumps track in the country, and the ride he gave Kingscliff in a handicap chase at Ascot in November.
   • A chase involves larger, rigid fences while a hurdle race is run over shorter, more flexible obstacles.
   • The champion trainer was nervous before the novice chase at Naas, but he needn't have worried as his young hopeful romped home.
   • Friday's Sandown card will be all steeplechases, combining three chases from tomorrow's abandoned card and the three from the planned Friday schedule.
   • Inside you'll find details on all the races and the points-race chase, plus lots of great photos.
   • The whole thinking, however, betrays an extraordinary bias, on the subject of the perceived champions, towards competitors in chases of three miles or more.
   • A brave competitor, he is known for his staying power in handicap chases.
   • The Dumfriesshire Hunt has also been used by keen amateur riders who can qualify their mounts for fox hunter chases at official race tracks as well as point to point amateur races.
   • He ended last season by winning the Scottish Champion Hurdle, then injured himself in his first novice chase.
   • Having won his first two novice chases, he was made favourite on his handicap debut at Ayr, but again Dobbin was left in the doldrums.
2. 1.2the chase Hunting as a sport.
   she was an ardent follower of the chase

   Example sentencesExamples

   • It seems that few kings had much time for the thrills of the chase and, in most cases, the hunting was done by professionals to provide meat for feasts and as gifts.
   • And I couldn't help but feel the thrill of a different kind of chase.
   • The association of the chase of the hunt and the chase of sex is an anthropological commonplace.
   • It is impossible to know for certain to what extent hunted animals suffer during the chase and the kill.
   • The Emperor, who was preparing for the chase, escaped being made a prisoner by hardly an hour.
   • This whole area used to be Henry VIII's hunting chase, a protected patch of lush woodland to the north of the capital.
   • I suspect the chase is the part they enjoy, as some skill is required riding a horse over rough terrain.
   • The thrill of the sport lies in the chase and the hounds tracking the fox.
   • Some are out for the pleasure of the chase, some for a good ride and others to protect their legitimate interests in their property.
   • Thrilling to the chase, I pounded down the uneven corridor until the beam of my light fell upon a wooden door at the end of the passage.
   • As with every seduction, however, the excitement of the chase soon is replaced by discontent and even misery.
   • But the fire of the chase was in me; and I resolved to hunt down the highwaymen, for only a quarter hour had passed since they had gone.
   • The thrill of the chase only compounded her problems.
   • The spirits of the men was much lifted by the hunt, for they enjoyed the chase, and it was great sport for all of them.
   • It is a visible quarry, so foot followers can still be involved and enjoy the chase.
   • The thrill of the chase is secondary because of the need to keep the fox population down.
   • The others left the chase at various points after that.
   • American collectors may link acquiring art with social status, but there is also the real joy of the chase.
   • Hunting with hounds is totally different: animals are hunted for sport and the ritualised chase is designed to be as long as possible.
   • She lived for danger, the chase, the thrill of it all.
3. 1.3British in place names An area of unenclosed land formerly reserved for hunting.
   Cannock Chase

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Cannock Chase is home to large populations of nocturnal animals, therefore we ask that you enjoy the forest during daylight hours only and allow the wildlife to recuperate without disturbance.
   • Cannock Chase has rolling hills, heathers, quiet forests and wild fallow deer.
4. 1.4archaic A hunted animal.

Engrave (metal, or a design on metal)

(in letterpress printing) a metal frame for holding the composed type and blocks being printed at one time.

1The part of a gun enclosing the bore.

2A groove or furrow cut in the face of a wall or other surface to receive a pipe or wire.