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Einen Kater haben

Meaning: To have a hangover.

Language: German

Literally: To have a tomcat

Category: Animals

Origin: 'Kater' puns on the medical 'Katarrh' (catarrh); students reshaped the morning-after misery into a tomcat.

More idioms — Animals

  • Buscarle tres pies al gato — To overcomplicate things; to look for trouble.
  • Non sapere che pesci pigliare — To be at a complete loss what to do.
  • Acertar na mosca — To be exactly right; to hit the bullseye.
  • Dar com os burros n'água — To fail despite all your effort.
  • Считать ворон — To idle and let chances slip by.
  • 月とすっぽん — Two things alike at a glance but worlds apart.

More German idioms

  • die Nase voll haben — To be fed up or exhausted by something.
  • Dampf ablassen — To release pent-up emotion or frustration.
  • Salz in die Wunde streuen — To deliberately make someone's pain or humiliation worse.
  • die Suppe versalzen — To ruin a plan or situation through careless excess.
  • vor den Kopf stoßen — To offend or affront someone.
  • sich die Hörner abstoßen — To shed youthful recklessness and settle into maturity.

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