paper chase

noun
1.
the effort to earn a diploma or college degree, especially in law, or a professional certificate or license.
2.
the writing of assignments and reports, collecting of supporting documents, filling out of forms, and other paperwork necessary to obtain a college degree or a professional certificate or license, apply for financial aid or a bank loan, etc.
3.
hare and hounds.
Origin
1855-60
Related forms
paper chaser, noun
paper-chasing, adjective, noun
Examples from the web for paper chase
  • The annual paper chase that is tax season can be viewed as an ordeal or an opportunity.
  • It only delays total payment to physicians, duplicates paperwork and often snarls the paper chase.
British Dictionary definitions for paper chase

paper chase

noun
1.
a former type of cross-country run in which a runner laid a trail of paper for others to follow
Slang definitions & phrases for paper chase

paper chase

noun phrase

An intense searching and collation of files, books, documents, etc, esp for the needs of ureaucrati pomp: Manuel's history of ideas carries the reader not on a paper chase but on a fascinating voyage

[1932+ British; fr the game of hare and hounds in which the quarry would leave a trail of scraps of paper, the term found by 1856; popularized in the US as the title of a film and a TV series, where the paper was a Harvard Law School degree]