cat on a hot tin roof, like a

like a cat on a hot tin roof

Anxious, restless, or and unable to sit still or relax. A: "Why does Carrie keep pacing around? She's like a cat on a hot tin roof!" B: "She's waiting for the doctor to call with her test results, so she's been totally stressed out." The kids were so worked up with excitement that they were like cats on a hot tin roof all afternoon.

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

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

like a cat on a hot tin roof (or on hot bricks)

very agitated, restless, or anxious.

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

Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

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