Cat Idioms

Cats are mentioned in many sayings...here are a few:

"The models are about to come down the catwalk!"
--  meaning:  a word referring to runways at fashion shows
--  cats are really good at balancing on narrow walkways






"It's raining cats and dogs out there!"
--  meaning: it's raining very hard
--  unclear origin



"A cat in gloves catches no mice." (Ben Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanac)
--  meaning: you can't accomplish some goals if you're polite and careful

"Cat's cradle"
--  a game of string
--  also the name of a book by Kurt Vonnegut
--  apparently, Europeans in the olden times thought that cats were good omens of fertility.  If and when fertility rites were performed, a cat was placed in a hammock-like cradle and rocked back and forth in the couple's house




"She's like a cat on a hot tin roof"
--  meaning: she's jumpy
--  title of Tennessee Williams' play
--  derived from the similar phrase "nimble as a cat on a hot bake-stone"






"Copycat"
--  apparently referring to the fact that kittens learn by imitating their mother's behavior









"Scaredy-cat!"
--  supposedly referring to the fact that cats won't stand up to dogs but will instead stand down





"That's another breed of cat."  
--  meaning: something different from anything else

"Cat got your tongue?"  
--  meaning: why aren't you talking?
--  Thought to have originated from an ancient middle eastern practice of cutting out a liar's tongue as punishment, and feeding it to the king's cat as food










"I'm going to take a catnap"
--  meaning:  to take a short nap
--  probably refers to the fact that cats nap all day!


"Stop pussyfooting around"
--  meaning:  stop avoiding the topic
--  referring to the fact that cats are stealthy and sneaky when they hunt and chase their prey







"Look what the cat dragged in"
--  probably referring to the fact that cats bring home prey that are tattered because they "play" with them before killing them








"She says such catty things about her boss!"
--  meaning:  usually referring to a woman who gossips about other women
--  a man once wrote that "a woman hath nine lives like a cat," which may be the origin of this phrase

"There's more than one way to skin a cat"
--  meaning:  there is more than one way to accomplish something
--  the 'cat' refers to a catfish (which is named because of its whiskers)




"The cat's out of the bag"
--  in medieval England piglet vendors would sell the piglets in bags so they could be taken home; however, some vendors would try to cheat their buyers by putting a large cat in the bag instead!  Only if someone actually looked in the bag was the secret revealed...


Can you think of any others?