cats and dogs

cats and dogs noun: a heavy rain; a large amount of rain.

Noun

cats and dogs pl (plural only)

(plural, plural-only) A heavy rain; a large amount of rain.
- With a good blinding snowfall, or a pelting downpour of cats and dogs, I might have hoped for a respite. What a Christmas offering for my mother! I say!1901, Ellen Wood (Mrs. Henry Wood), Johnny Ludlow: sixth series, page 361
- Many times, he would arrive soaking wet as the Florida skies had opened up in a sudden downpour of cats and dogs. Helen would wring out his shirt and put it out to dry, as clothes dryers were on the drawing board somewhere in the future.2010, Helen Howington, All in a Lifetime, AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 32
(plural, plural-only) People or things that constantly fight (see fight like cats and dogs).
(plural, plural-only) Stocks that can be purchased cheaply but are unlikely to produce much profit.

cats and dogs (not comparable)

(about raining, other precipitation, or leaking) Heavily; copiously; a lot.
- rain cats and dogs, come down cats and dogs, pour cats and dogs, storm cats and dogs
- We're lost, no gas, Dmitri is drunk, it's totally dark, and the rain is falling cats and dogs. There's nothing to cover ourselves with and we're getting colder and wetter by the minute. We had a couple of flares on the boat but […]2003, Joseph Sutton, The Immortal Mouth and Other Stories, Joseph Sutton, →ISBN

பூனைகளும் நாய்களும்

Well, it was hailing cats and dogs as far as Rafe was concerned.2010, Rita Herron, Have Cowboy, Need Cupid, Harlequin, →ISBN:
Although it was a beautiful day, it had rained the previous night and the church roof was leaking cats and dogs.2011, John Salmon, PHD, Family By God's Design: A Celebrating Community of Honor and Grace, WestBow Press, →ISBN, page 147:
“It's sleeting cats and dogs.” Jellyneck's sneakers squished as he headed for the cloakroom, ignoring the question.2015, Mary Ann Rodman, Jimmy's Stars, Usborne Publishing Ltd, →ISBN:

(heavy rain): Probably derived from rain cats and dogs.

What does cats and dogs mean?: Cats and dogs means a heavy rain; a large amount of rain.
What is cats and dogs in Tamil?: Cats and dogs in Tamil is பூனைகளும் நாய்களும். See Cats and dogs meaning in Tamil.
How do you use cats and dogs in a sentence?: Well, it was hailing cats and dogs as far as Rafe was concerned.
What part of speech is cats and dogs?: Cats and dogs can be a noun or an adverb.

Adapted from Wiktionary: cats and dogs (page history and authors); cats and dogs (Tamil Wiktionary) (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “cats and dogs.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cats_and_dogs. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.