not enough room to swing a cat

noun

Very little space (available) (of a very small room).

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Meanings

nounnot enough room to swing a cat (uncountable)
  1. informaluncountableVery little space (available) (of a very small room).

    1665, Richard Kephale Medela Pestilentiae They had not space enough (according to the vulgar saying) to swing a Cat in.

    1 more example

    My own apartment, to take a case in point, was a sort of hermit's cell in which one would have been hard put to it to swing a cat, even a smaller one than Augustus, not of course that one often wants to do much cat-swinging.

    1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter VIII

Origin

Attested 1665, by which point already in common use; perhaps of naval slang origin. While it is frequently stated that the phrase is derived from cat-o’-nine-tails (“type of whip”), this latter term is only attested from 1695, and hence this idiom presumably derived from literally swinging a cat around, as by the tail.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Finnish ahdas kuin mikä
  • ahdas kuin mikäof a room, very little space available
Hungarian egy gombostűt se lehetett volna leejteni
  • egy gombostűt se lehetett volna leejteniof a room, very little space available
Japanese 猫の額
  • 猫の額of a room, very little space available
Polish ciasnota
  • ciasnotaof a room, very little space available
Russian яблоку негде упасть
  • яблоку негде упасть (jabloku negde upastʹ)of a room, very little space available
Ukrainian го́лці ні́де впа́сти, я́блуку ні́де впа́сти
  • го́лці ні́де впа́сти (hólci níde vpásty)of a room, very little space available
  • я́блуку ні́де впа́сти (jábluku níde vpásty)of a room, very little space available
Welsh does dim lle i chwipio chwannen
  • does dim lle i chwipio chwannenof a room, very little space available
Cite this entry
APA

not enough room to swing a cat. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/not%20enough%20room%20to%20swing%20a%20cat

MLA

“not enough room to swing a cat.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/not%20enough%20room%20to%20swing%20a%20cat. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “not enough room to swing a cat,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/not%20enough%20room%20to%20swing%20a%20cat.

Source: not enough room to swing a cat on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.