Animal idioms

[wace]

More idioms connected with cats.....

LIKE A CAT ON HOT BRICKS: fidgety, restless, uneasy
'Keep still, Emily, you're like a cat on hot bricks!'
RUN AROUND LIKE A SCALDED CAT: bustle/run around busily (often unnecessarily)
'Fiona is always running around like a scalded cat yet she seems to
get very little done.'
(or alternatively : run around like a headless chicken)
BELL THE CAT: risk a confrontation with an opponent for the common good.
'Everybody was unhappy the new rates of pay and so I decided to bell the cat and take it up with the boss.'

Miaow

[wace]

More idioms connected with cats.....

LIKE A CAT ON HOT BRICKS: fidgety, restless, uneasy
'Keep still, Emily, you're like a cat on hot bricks!'
RUN AROUND LIKE A SCALDED CAT: bustle/run around busily (often unnecessarily)
'Fiona is always running around like a scalded cat yet she seems to
get very little done.'
(or alternatively : run around like a headless chicken)
BELL THE CAT: risk a confrontation with an opponent for the common good.
'Everybody was unhappy with the new rates of pay and so I decided to bell the cat and take it up with the boss.'

Miaow

[Hortence]

Originally Posted by wace

More idioms connected with cats.....

LIKE A CAT ON HOT BRICKS: fidgety, restless, uneasy
'Keep still, Emily, you're like a cat on hot bricks!'
RUN AROUND LIKE A SCALDED CAT: bustle/run around busily (often unnecessarily)
'Fiona is always running around like a scalded cat yet she seems to
get very little done.'
(or alternatively : run around like a headless chicken)
BELL THE CAT: risk a confrontation with an opponent for the common good.
'Everybody was unhappy with the new rates of pay and so I decided to bell the cat and take it up with the boss.'

Miaow

<^..^>

[Mad-ox]

BIG ENOUGH TO SHADE AN ELEPHANT= very big

e.g.

My house is big enough to shade an elephant.

[RonBee]

Originally Posted by wace

For those who love cats:

'A cat may look at a king' = all people are equal , irrespective of their social backgrounds
ex. :'His arrogant manner with his staff is highly objectionable; he should remember that a cat may look at a king.
'Like something the cat brought in' = dishevelled/ untidy
ex. : 'After trudging home across the moors, we looked like something the cat brought in'
'Not enough room to swing a cat' = cramped for space
ex. :' Our new kitchen is tiny, with not enough room to swing a cat'
'Which way the cat jumps' = probable outcome, dependent on preceding events.
ex.:' I don't know whether I can have enough time off work to take a holiday this year; I must wait and see which way the cat jumps.
'Put the cat among the pigeons' = (deliberately) cause an uproar
ex.: 'Lucy told Simon's wife where he was on Saturday and that really put the cat among the pigeons.

Hope you enjoyed them.

Interesting! I had never heard of the last two before, but the last one ("Put the cat among the pigeons") seems like a natural English language idiom.

(It's possible that the last two are used more often in the UK than the USA.)

[Mad-ox]

hello everybody

put a bug in someone 's ear = give somebody a hint about something or to tell a secret.

for instance, Who told you I need a new computer? Your sister put a bug in my ear.

In this case the idiom PUT A BUG IN ONE'S EAR is synonymous with A LITTLE BIRD TOLD ME!




best regards,

Madox

[Hortence]

Hi, here another one:

To be like pigs in clover.

"Thanks to a huge inheritance, he's living like a pig in clover."

This is said from somebody who lives very comfortably and carefree.

Have a nice day!

[gacon]

hi room,
I just have one idiom as; let the cat out of the bag.

How do you think about this idiom?
Give the comment for that

[gacon]

interesting but very difficult

[mfwills]

Originally Posted by wace

'Not enough room to swing a cat' = cramped for space

Forget having enough room to swing a cat. Even more cramped is "Not enough room to curse a cat without getting a mouthful of hair."

Originally Posted by wace

LIKE A CAT ON HOT BRICKS: fidgety, restless, uneasy

I have honestly never heard that one. The more common in my experience is "cat on a hot tin roof." My question: was this was a common expression before Tennessee Williams, or did he make it up?