chase
chase1 / chās/ • v. [tr.] 1. pursue in order to catch or catch up with: police chased the stolen car [intr.] the dog chased after the stick. ∎ seek to attain: seventy candidates chasing a single job. ∎ seek the company of (a member of the opposite sex) in an obvious way. ∎ [tr.] drive or cause to go in a specified direction: she chased him out of the house. 2. try to make contact with (someone) in order to get something owed or required: chasing customers who had not paid their bills. ∎ make further investigation of (an unresolved matter): investigators got a warrant to chase down the case. • n. an act of pursuing someone or something: they captured the youths after a brief chase. ∎ (the chase) hunting as a sport: she was an ardent follower of the chase. ∎ short for steeplechase. ∎ Brit. an area of unenclosed land formerly reserved for hunting. ∎ archaic a hunted animal.PHRASES: give chase go in pursuit. chase2 • v. [tr.] [usu. as adj.] (chased) engrave (metal, or a design on metal): a miniature container with a delicately chased floral design.chase3 • n. (in letterpress printing) a metal frame for holding the composed type and blocks being printed at one time. chase4 • n. 1. the part of a gun enclosing the bore. 2. a groove or furrow cut in the face of a wall or other surface to receive a pipe.