cat on a hot tin roof, like a
like a cat on a hot tin roof (or on hot bricks)
very agitated, restless, or anxious.See also: cat, hot, like, on, roof, tin
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
cat on a hot tin roof, like a
Skittish, nervous, ill at ease. A similar analogy—“like a cat on a hot bake-stone”—appeared in John Ray’s Proverbs of 1678. It was later replaced by “like a cat on hot bricks,” still used in the mid-twentieth century, but Tennessee Williams preferred the more picturesque “hot tin roof ” for the title of his 1955 play, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
See also: cat, hot, like, on, tin
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
cat on a hot tin roof
A Southernism that meant someone who was on edge or nervous. The phrase survives as the title of Tennessee Williams's 1955 Pulitzer Prize–winning drama.
See also: cat, hot, on, roof, tin
Endangered Phrases by Steven D. Price
- on one's
- on someone's
- save someone's skin
- let something drop
- out of one's
- (I've) got to go
- run someone out of town
- (Have you) been OK?
- take a shine to, to
- monkey's uncle, I'll be/am a