Jennifer say:
Just found this site, actually i searching for the cat in different languages and came upon this great site...
http://petcaretips.net/cat_phrases.html and after reading simplelife blog abt ailurophile. I just learnt its opposite: ailurophobe(see the words in red to know what that, a must KNOW for cat lover / cat hater.
I used this site to find out more abt the meaning of each phrases:
http://www.onelook.com/ and
this site:
http://www.kinrossfolds.com/cattery/catzenglish.html#anchor918328 and lastly
http://www.messybeast.com/catsay.htmmore on cute cat phrases:
http://www.xmission.com/~emailbox/phrases.htmhttp://www.moggies.co.uk/sayings.htmlhere what the site has:
Cat Phrases
cat's cradle: a game played with string looped over the fingers
cat ice: Ice forming a thin shell from under which the water has receded
cat in the meal:Something hidden or sinister
catgut:a strong cord made from the intestines of sheep and used in surgery
catcalls:a cry expressing disapproval
caterpillar: a wormlike and often brightly colored and hairy or spiny larva of a butterfly or moth (well, we all knew what that)
caterwauling:the yowling sound made by a cat in heat
pussy foot: Meaning crafty, cunning, or moving in a cautious manner
catboat:a sailboat with a single mast set far forward
clowder of cats: This is based on the old definition of the verb "to kindle," which described it as "bringing forth" or "giving birth to young."
fat cat: a wealthy and privileged person
scaredy-cat: somebody who is unusually timid and frightened
grinning like a cheshire cat: fictional cat with a broad fixed smile on its face; created by Lewis Carroll -Display a silly grin
CAT:
1. Clear Air Turbulence
2. College Ability Test
3. Computerized Axial Tomography
catnap: a short sleep (usually not in bed)
raining cats and dogs: Raining very heavily
cat burglar: a burglar who unlawfully breaks into and enters another person's house
cat scratch disease: a disease thought to be transmitted to humans by a scratch from a cat
not enough room to swing a catcat's meow:There are two theories about "not enough room to swing a cat," neither of them very cheerful. One is that the phrase refers to the "cat o'nine tails," a nine-thonged whip used in the days of square-rigged ships to discipline unruly sailors. This "cat" got its name from the fact that the welts it left on a sailor's back looked like enormous cat scratches. Most such whippings took place on the open deck, both as an example to the rest of the crew and because in the cramped quarters below decks there was "not enough room to swing a cat."
The other, less cat-friendly theory is that the phrase refers to literally swinging a cat around by its tail.
cat and mouse: a game for children in which the players form a circle and join hands; they raise their hands to let a player inside the circle or lower their hands to bar a second player who is chasing the first
a cat has nine lives: The cat's resilience and toughness led to the idea that it had more than one life, but the reason for endowing it with nine lives, rather than any other number, has often puzzled people. The answer is simple enough. In ancient times nine was considered a particularly lucky number because it was a "trinity of trinities" and therefore ideally suited for the "lucky" cat.
you don't have a cat-in-hell chance: The complete phrase is: "No more chance than a cat in hell without claws." It was originally a reference to the hopelessness of being without adequate weapons.
cattycorner: The proper word, in fact, is "catercorner" or "catercornered." The "cater" is an Anglicization of the French "quatre," or "four," and "catercornered" originally just meant "four-cornered." To specify that something is "catercorner across" from something else is to stress the diagonal axis of an imaginary box, as opposed to saying "directly across" or just "across."
she's "having kittens": means that someone will be terribly upset, to the point of hysteria
letting the cat out of the bag: letting secret out
cat's paw: A dupe or tool for another, a sucker, as in You always try to make a cat's paw of me, but I refuse to do any more of your work. This term alludes to a very old tale about a monkey that persuades a cat to pull chestnuts out of the fire so as to avoid burning its own paws. The story dates from the 16th century and versions of it (some with a dog) exist in many languages.
polecat: dark brown mustelid of woodlands of Eurasia that gives off an unpleasant odor when threatened
catwalk: narrow pathway high in the air (as above a stage or between parts of a building or along a bridge) or narrow platform
to sit in the cat-bird seat : As the Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang defines the term, "in the catbird seat" means "in a position of ease."
catnip: hairy aromatic perennial herb having whorls of small white purple-spotted flowers in a terminal spike; used in the past as a domestic remedy; strongly attractive to cats
The Cat's Waltz: This Chopin composition is so named because when Chopin was composing his Waltz No. 3 in F major, his cat scrambled across the keys of his piano and he tried to reproduce the same sounds in his piece.
cat on a hot tin roof: means someone ill at ease, uncomfortable, not at home in a place or situation.
kit and caboodle: The caboodle in this American expression meaning "the whole lot," is the same as the word boodle, for "a pile of money," deriving from the Dutch boedal, "Property," The whole kit, of course, means entire outfit.
dead cat bounce: apparent recovery in stock prices: an apparent recovery from a major decline in stock prices resulting from speculators rebuying stock that they previously sold rather than from a genuine upturn in the market
cats and dogs: Speculative stocks with little or no track record
bell the cat: take a risk; perform a daring act
sweeten the kitty: adding chips to the pot in a poker game or for increasing the payment in any business deal.
cat the anchor: to keep the anchor clear of the ship by hanging it outside the vessel on a piece of timber called the cathead
dead cat on the line: there's something suspicious, something wrong
fight like Kilkenny cats : to fight bitterly until the end
cat's fur to make kitten britches :a joking nonsense reply to the question "What for?" or "What's that for?" It's a pun on the words for and fur, which are often pronounced identically.
walk the cat back: To attempt to understand the true nature of a situation by reconstructing events chronologically from the present to the past.
a cat can look at a king : No one is so important that an ordinary person cannot look at him or her. Everyone can be curious about important people.
do it in a cat's paw: Do something in a way that no one knows it is you doing it.
copycat : Some one who mimics someone else.
a cat in gloves catches no mice : Sometimes you cannot get what you want by being careful and polite.
all cats are gray in the dark: In the dark, appearances are meaningless.
nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs: restless; unable to relax
see which way the cat jumps: This phrase means to imply that we have to wait until things progress to see which way they go, one way or another.
ailurophobe: A person who is extremely fearful of cats, or who has an intense dislike of them.ailurophile: Opposite of ailurophobe: a person who loves cats, or whose life revolves around them.
cat's pajamas: an excellent or special person or thing
skinning the cat: the expression "to skin the cat" refers to a boy's gymnastic trick
curiosity killed the cat : getting into life-endangering places and situations.
there's more than one way to skin a cat: recommends a change to stronger tactics
when the cat's away the mice will play: Without supervision, people misbehave.
put the cat among the pigeons : To stir up trouble, to cause dissension. The allusion is obvious.
the cat that swallowed the canary : which once meant to look guilty, but nowadays suggests smugness
I am unable to find the meaning for those phrases:
like a cat on hot coals
cat got your tongue
look what the cat dragged in
the cat who got the cream
the cat knows precisely whose meat it eats
only the cat covers up its own mess
the cat's cheers are the mouse's tears
the cat that bags the mouse will itself be bagged
like fog on little cat feet
Words For Cat in Other LanguagesSpanish---cat醠ogo
French---chat
Latin---felida(e)
Spanish/Portuguese---gato
Portuguese for "tomcat"---gattaff
Italian---gatto
Yiddish---katalog
Esperanto---kato
German---katze
Turkish---kedi
Russian---koshka
Chinese---mao
Japanese---neko
Russian---olena
Swahili---paka
Icelandic---kottur
Saudi Arabian---biss
Ugandan---paka
Polish---kot
Romanian---pisca
Swedish---katt
Korean---ko-yang-i
Armenian---katu
Hungarian---cica Hebrew
KHaTooL' (male) or
KHa'TooLaH' (female)
