(as) wet as a drowned rat

(as) wet as a drowned rat

Soaking wet, especially because of heavy rain. You poor thing, you're wet as a drowned rat! The kids came in from the storm as wet as a bunch of drowned rats. I know we have to walk to the cafeteria even though it's raining, but I hate being wet as a drowned rat for all of our afternoon classes.

See also: drown, rat, wet

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

drowned rat, like a/wet as a

Thoroughly soaked and utterly bedraggled. Despite their frequent presence in sewers and similar wet places, rats do not like water, a fact observed for many centuries (“It rained by the bucket and they came home wet as drowned rats,” Petronius, Satyricon, ca. a.d. 60). See also soaked to the skin.

See also: drown, like, wet

The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer