to rain heavily
Three theories present themselves for this
picturesque expression.
The most vivid suggests that drainage
in the streets in bygone centuries was so
inadequate that, during storms, stray
dogs and cats drowned in the flood. When
the water level went down, their carcases
littered the streets. Swift’s Description o f
a City Shower (1710) gives us a flavour of
what it was like:
Now from all parts the swelling kennels
flow,
And bear their trophies with them as
they go.
The ‘trophies’ are numerous, but
amongst them are:
Drown’d puppies, stinking sprats, all
drench’d in mud,
Dead cats and turnip tops, come tumbling
down the flood.
The first written record of the phrase as
we know it comes in Swift’s Polite Conversation
(1738) and it might be supposed
that he was merely making an allusion to
his earlier verse, which would confirm this
theory and make Swift the author of the
metaphor. Unfortunately the expression
was used in a slightly different form in the
previous century when Richard Brome
wrote: ‘It shall raine . . . dogs and polecats’
(The City Wit, 1653).
Alternatively, some authorities believe
that the phrase may be a corruption of
the Greek word catadupe, meaning ‘cataract’
or ‘waterfall’. In other words the
original expression had the meaning ‘rain
is coming down like a waterfall’.
Still others suggest a connection with
Norse mythology in which witches in the
guise of cats rode upon storms and the
storm-god Odin was accompanied by a
dog.
There was a danger, when the bumpers
were raining like cats and dogs, that Viv
Richards would end his final Test with
English blood on his hands.
DAILY MAIL, August 9, 1991.
usage: informal
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