the rabbit died

the rabbit died

The woman to whom we are referring is pregnant; the pregnancy test was positive. (From an early pregnancy test developed in 1931 in which the urine of a woman thought to be pregnant was injected into a female rabbit; if the woman was pregnant, the rabbit's ovaries would react. A common misconception at the time was that the rabbit would die if the woman was pregnant, hence the expression.) I saw Carol shopping for maternity clothes in the mall the other day. I guess the rabbit died! Honey, the rabbit died! It looks like we're going to have a baby!
See also: die, rabbit
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See also:
  • great with child
  • baby bump
  • kill the rabbit
  • knobstick wedding
  • all day long
  • out of the swim (of things)
  • out of the swim of things
  • oven
  • empower
  • empower (someone) to (do something)
References in classic literature
The rabbit died. What magistrate would find, or even venture to insinuate, anything against this?
George the rabbit died in distraught owner Melissa Richardson's arms hours after this snap was taken.
A post-mortem examination showed the rabbit died of multiple injuries, including fractures to the pelvis, spine and skull.
But the dog died the next day and the rabbit died four days later.