hare

*mad as a hatter and *mad as a march hare 

1. crazy. (Alludes to the crazy characters in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. *Also: as ~.) Poor old John is as mad as a hatter. All these screaming children are driving me mad as a hatter.

2. angry. (This is a misunderstanding of mad in the first sense. *Also: as ~.) You make me so angry! I'm as mad as a hatter. John can't control his temper. He's always mad as a hatter.

See also: hatter, mad

First catch your hare.

Prov. Do not make plans about what you will do when you have something until you actually have it. Fred: When I buy my house on the beach, you can spend summers with me there. Ellen: First catch your hare.

See also: catch, first

If you run after two hares, you will catch neither.

Prov. You cannot do two things successfully at the same time. Vanessa: If I want to pursue my acting career, I'll have to take more days off to go to auditions. But I want to get ahead in the office, too. Jane: If you run after two hares, you will catch neither.

See also: after, catch, if, neither, run, two

run with the hare and hunt with the hounds

Fig. to support both sides of a dispute. In our office politics, Sally always tries to run with the hare and hunt with the hounds, telling both the clerical workers and the management that she thinks they should prevail.

See also: and, hound, hunt, run

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be as mad as a March hare  (old-fashioned)

to be crazy This woman was dancing in the road and singing very loudly - I thought she was mad as a March hare.

See also: mad, march

run with the hare and hunt with the hounds  (old-fashioned)

to support two competing sides in an argument You've got to decide where you stand on this issue. You can't run with the hare and hunt with the hounds.

See run out the clock, go like clockwork, go deep, cast eye over, be run off feet, drive into the ground, have a good run for money, go to seed

See also: and, hound, hunt, run