Meanings
present singular third person rains cats and dogs · participle present raining cats and dogs · participle past rained cats and dogs · past rained cats and dogs · alternative rare rain dogs and cats
- idiomaticimpersonalTo rain very heavily.
["]Those weather-gaws aren't out for nothing. It'll rain cats and dogs to-morrow." Marigold wondered what weather-gaws were—and then forgot in thinking how interesting it would be in it really rained cats and dogs. Little silk-eared kittens everywhere by the basketful—loads of darling pudgy puppies.
1929, L[ucy] M[aud] Montgomery, “Marigold Entertains”, in Magic for Marigold, Toronto, Ont.: McClelland and Stewart, →OCLC, section 4, page 190Synonyms: bucket, bucket down, chuck it down, come down cats and dogs, rain buckets, rain pitchforks, pelt, piss down
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo rain very heavily.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Unknown, but see examples of early use in Citations.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic أَمْطَرَ بِغَزَارَة
- أَمْطَرَ بِغَزَارَة (ʔamṭara bi-ḡazāra)to rain very heavily
Bulgarian вали́ като из ведро́, вали́ из ведро́
- вали́ като из ведро́ (valí kato iz vedró)to rain very heavily
- вали́ из ведро́ (valí iz vedró)to rain very heavily
Catalan ploure a bots i barrals
- ploure a bots i barralsto rain very heavily
Chinese Cantonese 落狗屎
- 落狗屎 (lok⁶ gau² si²)to rain very heavily
Chinese Mandarin 暴雨如注, 傾盆大雨 /倾盆大雨
- 暴雨如注to rain very heavily
- 傾盆大雨 /倾盆大雨 (qīngpéndàyǔ)to rain very heavily
Czech lít jako z konve, padat trakaře
- lít jako z konveto rain very heavily
- padat trakařeto rain very heavily
Dutch pijpenstelen regenen
- pijpenstelen regenento rain very heavily
Esperanto pluvegi
- pluvegito rain very heavily
Finnish sataa kaatamalla, sataa äkäisiä ämmiä äkeet selässä
- sataa kaatamallato rain very heavily
- sataa äkäisiä ämmiä äkeet selässäto rain very heavily
- sataa kuin saavista kaataento rain very heavily
French pleuvoir des cordes, pleuvoir à verse
- pleuvoir des cordesto rain very heavily
- pleuvoir à verseto rain very heavily
- pleuvoir des hallebardesto rain very heavily
- pleuvoir à boire deboutto rain very heavily
- dracherto rain very heavily
- pleuvoir à seauxto rain very heavily
German Bindfäden regnen
- Bindfäden regnento rain very heavily
Greek βρέχει με το τουλούμι, ρίχνει καρεκλοπόδαρα
- βρέχει με το τουλούμι (vréchei me to touloúmi)to rain very heavily
- ρίχνει καρεκλοπόδαρα (ríchnei kareklopódara)to rain very heavily
- ρίχνει καντάρια (ríchnei kantária)to rain very heavily
Hungarian zuhog, mintha dézsából öntenék
- zuhog, mintha dézsából öntenékto rain very heavily
Icelandic rigna eldi og brennisteini
- rigna eldi og brennisteinito rain very heavily
Irish sceana gréasaí a chur
- sceana gréasaí a churto rain very heavily
Italian piovere a catinelle, diluviare
- piovere a catinelleto rain very heavily
- diluviareto rain very heavily
- scrosciareto rain very heavily
- piovere come Dio la mandato rain very heavily
Japanese 土砂降りになる
- 土砂降りになる (doshaburi ni naru)to rain very heavily
Korean 비가 억수같이 내리다
- 비가 억수같이 내리다 (bi-ga eoksu-gachi naerida)to rain very heavily
Norwegian Bokmål høljeregne, høljregne
- høljeregneto rain very heavily
- høljregneto rain very heavily
- regne sinte kjerringerto rain very heavily
Polish lać jak z cebra
- lać jak z cebrato rain very heavily
Portuguese o céu vir abaixo, chover a cântaros
- o céu vir abaixoto rain very heavily
- chover a cântarosto rain very heavily
- chover a potesto rain very heavily
- cair um toróto rain very heavily
- chover canivetesto rain very heavily
- chover caniveteto rain very heavily
Romanian ploua cu găleata
- ploua cu găleatato rain very heavily
Russian лить как из ведра́
- лить как из ведра́ (litʹ kak iz vedrá)to rain very heavily
Slovak liať ako z krhly
- liať ako z krhlyto rain very heavily
Spanish llover a cántaros, llover a mares
- llover a cántarosto rain very heavily
- llover a maresto rain very heavily
- caer chuzos de puntato rain very heavily
- chaparrearto rain very heavily
- jarrearto rain very heavily
- llover reciamenteto rain very heavily
- llover copiosamenteto rain very heavily
- diluviarto rain very heavily
- caer un palo de lluviato rain very heavily
- caer un palo de pluviato rain very heavily
Swedish stå som spön i backen
- stå som spön i backento rain very heavily
Turkish bardaktan boşalırcasına yağmak, şakır şakır yağmur
- bardaktan boşalırcasına yağmakto rain very heavily
- şakır şakır yağmurto rain very heavily
Ukrainian ллє як з відра
- ллє як з відра (llje jak z vidra)to rain very heavily
Vietnamese (trời) mưa xối xả, (trời) mưa như trút
- (trời) mưa xối xảto rain very heavily
- (trời) mưa như trútto rain very heavily
Welsh bwrw hen wragedd â ffyn
- bwrw hen wragedd â ffynto rain very heavily
Cite this entry
rain cats and dogs. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rain%20cats%20and%20dogs
“rain cats and dogs.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rain%20cats%20and%20dogs. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “rain cats and dogs,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rain%20cats%20and%20dogs.
Source: rain cats and dogs on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.