Take an umbrella — it's raining cats and dogs.
rain cats and dogs
idiom A2
To rain very heavily.
Origin
first recorded 17th c.Attested from the 17th century (Richard Brome, 1651, has 'rain dogs and polecats'; Jonathan Swift used the modern form in 1738); despite many theories, the true origin is unknown.
We wanted to walk to the park, but it was raining cats and dogs all afternoon.
The match was abandoned at half-time because it began to rain cats and dogs, leaving the pitch completely waterlogged.
- 01
call off the dogs
To ease up on after inflicting great punishment.
- 02
dog my cats
Used as a mild oath, or as an expression of astonishment
- 03
dogs bark, cats meow
Used to introduce something seen as inevitable or totally commonplace.
- 04
go to the dogs
To decline or deteriorate shockingly.
- 05
herd cats
To attempt to control the uncontrollable; to attempt to manage a great many unruly factors or people to a single end.
- 06
let sleeping dogs lie
To leave things as they are; especially, to avoid restarting or rekindling an old argument; to leave disagreements in the past.
- 07
make it rain
To bring prosperity or work to an enterprise by selling, inventing or other productive or successful activity.
- 08
pleasure and pain
[Cockney slang]rain