cat on a hot tin roof

a cat on a hot tin roof

Someone who is anxious and unable to sit still or relax. A: "Why is Carrie pacing?" B: "She's waiting for the doctor to call with her test results, so she's been like a cat on a hot tin roof all day." Watching that game was so stressful—I was like a cat on a hot tin roof the whole time! I don't know why you're acting like a cat on a hot tin roof when you've done all you can to make sure the merger's a success.

See also: cat, hot, on, roof, tin

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

cat on a hot tin roof, like a

Skittish, nervous, ill at ease. A similar analogy—“like a cat on a hot bake-stone”—appeared in John Ray’s Proverbs of 1678. It was later replaced by “like a cat on hot bricks,” still used in the mid-twentieth century, but Tennessee Williams preferred the more picturesque “hot tin roof ” for the title of his 1955 play, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

See also: cat, hot, like, on, tin

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

cat on a hot tin roof

A Southernism that meant someone who was on edge or nervous. The phrase survives as the title of Tennessee Williams's 1955 Pulitzer Prize–winning drama.

See also: cat, hot, on, roof, tin

Endangered Phrases by Steven D. Price Copyright © 2011 by Steven D. Price