not enough room to swing a cat

1. Very little space, cramped quarters, as in There's not enough room to swing a cat in this tent. This expression, first recorded in 1771, is thought to allude to the cat-o'-nine-tails, or “cat,” a whip with nine lashes widely used to punish offenders in the British military.

Example Sentences

The media are all crammed into a tiny space on the red carpet - there’s not enough room to swing a cat.

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