there's more than one way to skin a cat

proverb There are many methods one may employ in achieving one's ends. Don't worry, we'll get this start-up off the ground. Our talks with the investment group may have fallen through, but there's more than one way to skin a cat.

See also: cat, more, one, skin, to, way

There's more than one way to skin a cat.

Prov. You can always find more than one way to do something. Jill: How will we fix the sink without a wrench? Jane: There's more than one way to skin a cat. Our first approach didn't work, but we'll figure out some other way. There's more than one way to skin a cat.

See also: cat, more, one, skin, to, way

more than one way to skin a cat

More than one method to reach the same end, as in We can get around that by renting instead of buying a computer-there's more than one way to skin a cat . This expression may be an American version of the earlier British more ways of killing a cat, but why the death of a cat should be alluded to at all is not clear. [Second half of 1800s]

See also: cat, more, one, skin, to, way

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

there's more than one way to skin a cat

there are many ways to skin a cat

You say there's more than one way to skin a cat or there are many ways to skin a cat to mean that there are several ways of achieving something, and not just the usual way. But there's more than one way to skin a cat. Keep positive and try another method of reaching your goal. The Prime Minister has discovered that there are many ways to skin a cat. He has at last found a way to bring down interest rates.

See also: cat, more, one, skin, to, way

Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012

there's more than one way to skin a cat

there's more than one way of achieving your aim.

There are several traditional proverbs along these lines, for example there are more ways of killing a cat than choking it with cream .

See also: cat, more, one, skin, to, way

there’s more than ˈone way to skin a ˈcat

(saying, humorous) there are many different ways to achieve something: Have you thought about a different approach? There’s more than one way to skin a cat.

See also: cat, more, one, skin, to, way

more than one way to skin a cat, there's

There are many ways to accomplish the same end. American in origin, this term is similar to the British locution, “There are more ways of killing a cat than choking it with cream,” which appeared in Charles Kingsley’s Westward Ho! (1855). Mark Twain used the current cliché, “She knew more than one way to skin a cat,” in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1889). Several writers claim the expression has nothing to do with literally skinning an animal, but rather describes a child’s maneuver in getting into a sitting position on a tree branch. There is no evidence for this etymology.