be like a cat on hot bricks

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

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

like a cat on hot bricks

Anxious, restless, or and unable to sit still or relax. A: "Why does Carrie keep pacing around? She's like a cat on hot bricks!" 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 hot bricks all afternoon.

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

like a cat on hot bricks

Also, like a cat on a hot tin roof. Restless or skittish, unable to remain still, as in Nervous about the lecture he had to give, David was like a cat on hot bricks. The first expression replaced a still earlier one, like a cat on a hot bake-stone, which appeared in John Ray's Proverbs (1678). The second was popularized as the title of Tennessee Williams's play, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955).

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

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.

like a cat on hot bricks

like a cat on a hot tin roof

If you are like a cat on hot bricks or like a cat on a hot tin roof, you cannot keep still or relax because you are very nervous or impatient. Why are you shifting from one foot to the other like a cat on hot bricks? Meanwhile, Mr Richardson says he is like a cat on a hot tin roof as the anticipation builds. Note: `Cat on a Hot Tin Roof' is the title of a play by Tennessee Williams.

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

like a ˌcat on hot ˈbricks

(British English) (American English less frequent like a ˌcat on a hot tin ˈroof) (informal) very nervous: He’ll be like a cat on hot bricks till he gets his exam results.

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

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