I. chase 1 S3 /tʃeɪs/ BrE AmE verb
[ Sense 1-5, 7: Date: 1200-1300 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: chacier , from Vulgar Latin captiare ; ⇨ ↑ catch 1 ]
[ Sense 6: Date: 1400-1500 ; Origin: enchase 'to set (a jewel)' (15-21 centuries) , from French enchâsser , from châsse 'case, setting' , from Latin capsa ; ⇨ ↑ case 1 ]
1 . FOLLOW [intransitive and transitive] to quickly follow someone or something in order to catch them:
The dogs saw him running and chased him.
kids chasing around the house
chase somebody along/down/up something etc
The police chased the suspect along Severn Avenue.
chase after
A gang of boys chased after her, calling her names.
2 . MAKE SOMEBODY/SOMETHING LEAVE [transitive always + adverb/preposition] to make someone or something leave, especially by following them for a short distance and threatening them
chase somebody away/off
The men were chased off by troops, who fired warning shots.
chase somebody out of something
Anne went to chase the dog out of the garden.
3 . TRY TO GET SOMETHING [intransitive and transitive] to use a lot of time and effort trying to get something such as work or money:
Top graduates from the university are chased by major companies.
chase after
reporters chasing after a story
4 . HURRY [intransitive always + adverb/preposition] British English to rush or hurry somewhere
chase around/up/down etc
I was chasing around getting everything organized.
5 . ROMANCE [transitive] to try hard to make someone notice you and pay attention to you, because you want to have a romantic relationship with them:
‘Sometimes a girl wants to be chased,’ Amelia said.
6 . METAL [transitive] technical to decorate metal with a special tool:
chased silver
7 . chase the dragon informal to smoke the drug ↑ heroin
chase somebody/something ↔ down phrasal verb
to find something or someone that you have been looking for:
We had to chase down everyone we’d sold a bike to.
chase somebody/something ↔ up phrasal verb British English
1 . to remind someone to do something they promised to do for you:
David hasn’t paid yet – you’d better chase him up.
2 . to try to make something happen or arrive more quickly, because it has been taking too long:
Can you chase up those photos for me tomorrow?
• • •
THESAURUS
▪ follow to walk, drive etc behind or after someone, for example in order to see where they are going:
The man had followed her home to find out where she lived.
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Follow that car!
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He hired a detective to follow her.
▪ chase to quickly run or drive after someone or something in order to catch them when they are trying to escape:
Police chased the car along the motorway at speeds of up to 90 mph.
▪ run after somebody/go after somebody to quickly follow someone or something in order to stop them or talk to them:
I ran after him to say sorry, but he’d already got on the bus.
▪ stalk /stɔːk $ stɒːk/ to secretly follow an animal in order to kill it, or to secretly follow a person in order to attack them:
a tiger stalking its prey
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He had a long history of stalking women in his neighbourhood.
▪ pursue /pəˈsjuː $ pərˈsuː/ written to chase someone in a very determined way:
The ship was being pursued by enemy submarines.
▪ give chase written to chase someone or something who is trying to escape from you:
One of the officers gave chase and arrested the man.
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The calf ran away and the lion gave chase.
▪ tail to secretly follow someone in order to watch what they do and where they go:
Apparently, the police had been tailing the terrorists for months.
▪ track to follow and find a person or animal by looking at the marks they leave on the ground:
The bushmen were tracking antelope in the Kalahari desert.
II. chase 2 BrE AmE noun
1 . [countable] the act of following someone or something quickly in order to catch them:
a high-speed car chase
Police spotted the car and gave chase (=chased it) .
2 . [singular] when you use a lot of time and effort trying to get something
chase after
the chase after higher-paying jobs
⇨ ↑ paper chase , ↑ wild goose chase