play catch-up

English

Verb

play catch-up (third-person singular simple present plays catch-up, present participle playing catch-up, simple past and past participle played catch-up)

1. (also sports, games) In a losing scenario, to take risks in an attempt to regain the lead.
   • 2020 January 2, Graeme Pickering, “Fuelling the changes on Teesside rails”, in Rail, page 59:

     "We're now having to play catch-up," says the Mayor. "What are we now, five years on from the original announcement? It's probably going to take us another six months to present a business case to government to allow us to make the platform improvements and make sure the knock-on effects to the wider network are taken into account because that has to be costed as well."

See also

• play the percentages