Converse of object

• play: Inspections worked, he said, even when Saddam got up to his old tricks, playing cat-and-mouse.

Modifies a noun

• game: As the cat-and-mouse game continues, he is sucked ever deeper into the serial killer's world.

• chase: He been involved in a cat-and-mouse chase with his former employers ever since he was released from prison in 1997.

• thriller: Dorfman uses the form of a cat-and-mouse thriller to raise a series of moral questions... .

• battle: So they stayed put, and a cat-and-mouse battle ensued.