be like a cat on hot bricks

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."

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

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2015 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

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

or

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

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

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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