Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

rain cats and dogs

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.15 in modern English

Syllables: rain -cat-s and -dogs
IPA

20

Scrabble Score

15

Letters

4

Syllables

10

Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To rain very heavily.

Example Sentences

"["]Those weather-gaws aren't out for nothing. It'll rain cats and dogs to-morrow." Marigold wondered what weather-gaws were—and then forgot in thinking how interesting it would be in it really rained cats and dogs. Little silk-eared kittens everywhere by the basketful—loads of darling pudgy puppies."

Etymology

Unknown, but see examples of early use in Citations.

Inflected Forms

rains cats and dogs (present, singular) raining cats and dogs (participle, present) rained cats and dogs (participle, past) rained cats and dogs (past) rain dogs and cats (alternative, rare)

Phrases

cats and dogs come down in stair rods

Frequently Paired Words

come down in stair rods

Synonyms

bucket bucket down chuck it down come down cats and dogs rain buckets rain pitchforks pelt piss down piss it down pour pour cats and dogs storm cats and dogs

Questions

What does rain cats and dogs mean?: To rain very heavily.
Where does rain cats and dogs come from?: Unknown, but see examples of early use in Citations.

How to pronounce rain cats and dogs

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “rain cats and dogs”.
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