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look like something the cat dragged in

Idioms  

  1. Appear completely bedraggled, as in After running around in the rain for hours, I looked like something the cat dragged in. This expression alludes to a cat's bringing home birds or mice it has killed or savaged. [c. 1920]

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

In photos they look like something the cat dragged in.

From Time Magazine Archive

Right this minute you look like something the cat dragged in.

From The Sky Trap by Long, Frank Belknap

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.