IdiomAnimals
English
EnglishIt's raining cats and dogs
Meaning: It's raining extremely heavily.
Example: “Don't forget your umbrella; it's raining cats and dogs out there.”
Origin: Popularized by Jonathan Swift (1738), but a near-identical form appears earlier in Richard Brome's play 'City Wit' (c. 1637), so Swift did not coin it. True origin uncertain.
Equivalents in other languages
Dutch: Het regent pijpenstelen Literally: It's raining pipe stems
French: Il pleut comme vache qui pisse Literally: It rains like a cow that pisses- French: Tomber des hallebardes Literally: To rain halberds
More English idioms
- Bob's your uncle And there you have it; simple as that.
- take the biscuit to be the most outrageous or remarkable thing; to win or excel.
- beat around the bush to avoid addressing the main point; to speak indirectly.
- give someone the cold shoulder to deliberately treat someone with indifference or ignore them.
- let the cat out of the bag to reveal a secret inadvertently.
- pull your punches to hold back; to be less forceful than you could be.
Explore another collection: Tongue Twisters
Tricky phrases to practice out loud, from languages around the world.
- Unique New York. Three words that jam the 'y/n/k' sequence together — repeat it and it collapses into 'you…
- Pad kid poured curd pulled cod. Alternating repetition — the consonants swap at the start of every other word, which is w…
- Red lorry, yellow lorry. The 'l/r' alternation drill — deceptively short, yet almost impossible to say fast withou…
Keep exploring