rain cats and dogs

Idioms  

1. Also, rain buckets. Rain very heavily, as in It was raining cats and dogs so I couldn't walk to the store, or It's been raining buckets all day. The precise allusion in the first term, which dates from the mid-1600s, has been lost, but it probably refers to gutters overflowing with debris that included sewage, garbage, and dead animals. Richard Brome used a version of this idiom in his play The City Wit (c. 1652), where a character pretending a knowledge of Latin translates wholly by ear, “Regna bitque /and it shall rain, Dogmata Polla Sophon /dogs and polecats and so forth.” The variant presumably alludes to rain heavy enough to fill pails.

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Example Sentences

“Who wants to come over here and stay in town when it’s raining cats and dogs?” said Hart, a recently retired supermarket clerk, her hands still shaking a week later.

From The Wall Street Journal

“But we’ve had nine powerful back-to-back storms rip through the county over the past week alone. Unfortunately, when it’s raining cats and dogs, there’s not a lot we can do but wait it out.”

From Los Angeles Times

According to the poll, only 9% say they always use an umbrella to keep themselves dry when it’s raining cats and dogs.

From Seattle Times

For example, if he hears the expression “It’s raining cats and dogs,” he expects tabbies and terriers to fall from the skies.

From Washington Post

“Our wedding was so beautiful, even though it was raining cats and dogs that day,” she said.

From Reuters