a cat has nine lives

a cat has nine lives

proverb A cat is able to endure, continue, or survive despite a near encounter with death or disaster because cats have nine lives (according to a common myth). Mr. Pickles has been missing for a few days, but I wouldn't worry about him. Everybody knows a cat has nine lives.
See also: cat, lives, nine
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

cat has nine lives

Prov. Cats can survive things that are severe enough to kill them. (You can also refer to a particular cat's nine lives.) Jill: My cat fell off a third-floor balcony and just walked away. How can he do that? Jane: A cat has nine lives. I think my cat used up one of her nine lives when she survived being hit by that car.
See also: cat, lives, nine
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • teach a man to fish
  • it takes a village
  • village
  • a reed before the wind lives on(, while mighty oaks do fall)
  • best-laid plans go astray, the
  • the best-laid plans
  • the best-laid plans go astray
  • the best-laid plans of mice and men
  • for want of a nail
  • For want of a nail the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe the horse ...
References in periodicals archive
The abracadabra was worn nine days and then flung into a river, in order to see the fairies, one is directed to put nine grains of wheat on a four - leaved clover; nine knots are made in black wool as a charm for a sprained ankle; if a servant finds nine green peas in a peasecod, she lays it on the lintel of the kitchen door, and the first man that enters in is to be her cavalier; to see nine magpies is most unlucky; a cat has nine lives; and the nine of diamonds is known as the Curse of Scotland.
Nine