Word.ws English Dictionary

cat that swallowed the canary

cat that swallowed the canary is the alternative form of cat that ate the canary.

Meaning of cat that ate the canary

Noun

cat that ate the canary

  1. (idiomatic) A person who appears self-satisfied or smug, especially while concealing something mischievous, prohibited, or private.
    • He talked freely and carried the smile of the cat that swallowed the canary.1910 April 30, “Cotton Bulls Stand Shock of Deliveries”, in New York Times, page 2
  2. (idiomatic) A person whose appearance and behavior suggest guilt mixed with other qualities, such as satisfaction or feigned nonchalance.
    • Like the cat that swallowed the canary. Not only do you feel a little bit guilty 'cause you can't stop, but you feel pretty good, too.2001 February 12, “Daytona 500: Andretti on Italian food, breakfast cereal and going fast”, in CNN/Sports Illustrated, retrieved 09 Aug 2008

Questions about cat that swallowed the canary

What is cat that swallowed the canary the alternative form of?
Cat that swallowed the canary is the alternative form of cat that ate the canary.

Words near cat that swallowed the canary in the dictionary

  1. cat stretches
  2. cat tax
  3. cat taxes
  4. cat that ate the canary
  5. cat that got the cream
  6. cat that swallowed the canary
  7. cat thyme
  8. cat thymes
  9. cat tongue
  10. cat tongues
  11. cat tower

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cat that swallowed the canary (page history and authors); cat that ate the canary (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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