Idiom
look what the cat's dragged in
Meaning
Used as an ironic acknowledgement of someone's arrival, either jocularly or to imply that they are unwelcome or disagreeable in some way.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“Look what the cat's dragged in, you finally arrived.”
“Look what the cat's dragged in, you look exhausted after your long trip.”
“I turned around to see my brother standing in the doorway and laughed, saying, look what the cat's dragged in.”
“My old roommate walked into the party uninvited, and I whispered to my friend, look what the cat's dragged in.”
“When the rival coach entered the meeting room, the director joked, look what the cat's dragged in, to break the tension.”
“The room fell silent as the disgraced former partner entered, prompting the host to remark with a sharp smile, look what the cat's dragged in.”
Examples
simple
“Look what the cat's dragged in, you finally arrived.”
“Look what the cat's dragged in, you look exhausted after your long trip.”
contextual
“I turned around to see my brother standing in the doorway and laughed, saying, look what the cat's dragged in.”
“My old roommate walked into the party uninvited, and I whispered to my friend, look what the cat's dragged in.”
“When the rival coach entered the meeting room, the director joked, look what the cat's dragged in, to break the tension.”
complex
“The room fell silent as the disgraced former partner entered, prompting the host to remark with a sharp smile, look what the cat's dragged in.”
Origin
The expression arises from the domestic cat’s habit of presenting the remains of its prey to its owners. It appears in the English lexicon as a comparison between the dishevelled or unwelcome arrival of a person and the state of a small, deceased animal deposited upon a rug.
Key words
Related idioms
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