raining cats and dogs origin
There are various theories that raining cats and dogs is derived from a foreign phrase eg. In it one of Swifts characters expresses a fear that its going to rain cats and dogs.
Common Idioms And Phrases Meanings And Origins Raining Cats And Dogs Dog Cat Cats
The cats and dogs phrase could also come from the Greek expression cata doxa which means contrary to experience or belief.
. However it was in use during the 17 th century. Dogs and polecats Why dogs and polecats is not known. To rain stair rods.
If youre driving through a severe rainstorm then you can say its raining cats and dogs. The image of the traditional enmity. When it rained heavily the water from the roof washed them off the eaves and they came down with the torrent of water from the roofs of houses.
At least in a popular source the phrase was first noted in Jonathons Swifts Complete Collection of Genteel and Ingenious Conversation published in 1738. We know that its first appearance in a slightly modified form is in 1653 in Richard Bromes The City Wit It shall raine. The phrase to rain cats and dogs means to rain very hardsynonym.
The origin may also be in Norse mythology where cats and dogs were sometimes associated with the spirit of the storm. Some attribute the origin of raining cats and dogs to the Greek expression cata doxa. Other suggestions include derivation from a similar sounding but unspecified Greek aphorism which meant an unlikely occurrence or that it is a corrupted version of a rare French word catadoupe meaning a waterfall.
Phythian made an interesting hypothesis as to the origin of this phrase in A Concise Dictionary of Phrase and Fable 1993 to rain cats and dogs is certainly based on a cat-and-dog fight as a metaphor for a storm or hard rain. Its a somewhat peculiar expression since cats and dogs dont rain from the sky. The term raining cats and dogs derives from Victorian times when household pets like cats and dogs slept during the night on the eaves of houses.
I know Sir John will go though he was sure it would rain cats and dogs. But where does the expression raining cats and dogs actually come from. Although it is unclear whether or not Swift invented the phrase this scholars believe was likely the beginning of its.
Many cats and dogs perhaps hung out in the hatch and when it used to pour the animals were probably washed off the roof making it look like it was raining cats and dogs. Some people believe the phrase comes from a cats avoidance of water and its need to run for cover rather than remain outside in the rain. As it appeared as though the cats and dogs had fallen with the rain the term raining.
From the Greek kata doksa contrary to expectation which the English adopted although these have largely been rejected. This term means contrary to belief or experience. The best source for the answer to this 1 says that the idiom raining cats and dogs is most likely to have come from a poem by Jonathan Swift called A Description Of A City Shower which fortunately and thanks to our dear friend Google I can publish here in full as it is in the public domain.
Its raining cats and dogs. Some people have suggested that Its raining cats and dogs has its origins in thatched roofs. In heavy rain the animals would either be washed out of the thatch or rapidly abandon it for better shelter so it would seem to be raining cats and dogs.
This term means contrary to belief or experience. Raining cats and dogs means very heavy rain but why cats and dogs. The phrase raining cats and dogs was coined by Thomas Chandler Haliburton a Nova Scotian Judge and Author who was the creator of the fictional character Sam Slick.
Raining cats and dogs. It first appeared in the Welsh poet Henry Vaughans collection Olor Iscanus in 1651 where he referred to a roof sturdy enough to survive dogs and cats rained in shower. 79 rows Another explanation is that cats and dogs may be a corruption of the Greek word.
Another possible explanation refers to the thatched roof of many houses in the 15th century. If people said that its raining cats and dogs this meant that the rainfall is unbelievably or unusually hard. Alternatively cats and dogs could be a corruption or misunderstanding of the Greek word catadupe meaning waterfall so the expression would originally have been its raining like a waterfall.
There are plenty of theories about the origin of the phrase raining cats and dogs. Raining cats and dogs is the cause of urban flooding. No one knows the precise source of the 17th century expression raining cats and dogs but we can be sure that it didnt originate because animals fell from the sky.
The modern version of raining cats and dogs first appeared in Jonathan Swifts A Complete Collection of Polite and Ingenious Conversation 1978. On the mythological end of things some people have suggested that the term comes from the idea that cats and dogs are associated with the. Origin - the full story This is an interesting old English phrase in that although we dont know who coined it or why it has spawned a host of speculative derivations.
This wasnt the first time Jonathan Swift used the particular words for precipitating pets. The origin of Raining cats and dogs The origin of the idiom Raining cats and dogs is skeptical there are no genuine sources through which we can trace its origin. The person behind this idiom is also unknown and it has no any intelligible connection or relation with dogs and.
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