| Idiom | Raining Cats and Dogs |
|---|---|
| Example | It's raining cats and dogs, and our picnic is ruined. |
| Meaning | to rain very heavily; to pour |
| Origin | There are several theories about the origin of this popular idiom, which goes back at least to the middle 1700s in England. One comes from Norse mythology, in which dogs were associated with windy storms and cats were associated with rain. Also, in England in the 17th and 18th centuries, many cats and dogs drowned in floods caused by torrential rainstorms, and their bodies were found in the streets afterwards as if they had fallen from the sky with the rain. |
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