Why Do We Say ‘It’s Raining Cats and Dogs’?

It’s raining cats and dogs means it’s raining really hard. But why? Long ago, people saw animals running in the rain and thought they were falling from the sky! So now we say it when it pours like crazy.

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Examples

When it started raining so hard that the street looked like a river, Mom said, ‘It’s raining cats and dogs!’
After playing outside for hours in the storm, Ben came inside soaked and said, ‘It felt like it was raining cats and dogs!’
The dog ran into the house because it didn’t want to get wet, it was raining cats and dogs!

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Categories: Science · idioms,weather,language,history