"curiosity killed a cat" meaning in All languages combined

See curiosity killed a cat on Wiktionary

Proverb [English]

Head templates: {{en-head|proverb|head=~kill􂀿ed􂁀}} curiosity killed a cat
  1. Alternative form of curiosity killed the cat. Tags: alt-of, alternative Alternative form of: curiosity killed the cat
    Sense id: en-curiosity_killed_a_cat-en-proverb-JLX53B8u Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English proverbs, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "proverb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "alt_of": [
        {
          "word": "curiosity killed the cat"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
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          "kind": "other",
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          "parents": [],
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          "source": "w"
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      "examples": [
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          "ref": "1868 October 28, “Aunt Hetty’s Stratagem”, in Waterford Mirror & Tramore Visiter, Waterford, Munster: […] John S. Palmer, […], →OCLC, page [4], column 3:",
          "text": "They say curiosity killed a cat once, so I will take warning and let things remain as they are.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
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              152,
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          "ref": "1911 November 5, “Those Fool Questions—and Some Fool Retorts […]”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:",
          "text": "A distracted mother having answered a half a hundred queries in half an hour, at last implored her bright little eight-year-old to desist for a while. “Curiosity killed a cat, you know, dear,” she explained with half humorous philosophy. The little boy’s tongue was still for perhaps the space of three minutes. Then came a childish voice, low and gentle, but eager: “Motherkins, please tell me! What was it the cat wanted to know?”",
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          "ref": "1951 October, William Edman Massee, “Great to Be Home”, in The Atlantic Monthly, Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 27 May 2022:",
          "text": "When you give somebody a present from a foreign land, you’d think that would provoke some questions, even if only “How much?” Curiosity killed a cat, Aunt Harriet used to say, but she never failed to ask me where I’d been, and with whom.",
          "type": "quotation"
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        "Alternative form of curiosity killed the cat."
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  "word": "curiosity killed a cat"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "proverb",
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          "word": "curiosity killed the cat"
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          "ref": "1868 October 28, “Aunt Hetty’s Stratagem”, in Waterford Mirror & Tramore Visiter, Waterford, Munster: […] John S. Palmer, […], →OCLC, page [4], column 3:",
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          "ref": "1911 November 5, “Those Fool Questions—and Some Fool Retorts […]”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:",
          "text": "A distracted mother having answered a half a hundred queries in half an hour, at last implored her bright little eight-year-old to desist for a while. “Curiosity killed a cat, you know, dear,” she explained with half humorous philosophy. The little boy’s tongue was still for perhaps the space of three minutes. Then came a childish voice, low and gentle, but eager: “Motherkins, please tell me! What was it the cat wanted to know?”",
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          "ref": "1951 October, William Edman Massee, “Great to Be Home”, in The Atlantic Monthly, Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 27 May 2022:",
          "text": "When you give somebody a present from a foreign land, you’d think that would provoke some questions, even if only “How much?” Curiosity killed a cat, Aunt Harriet used to say, but she never failed to ask me where I’d been, and with whom.",
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  "word": "curiosity killed a cat"
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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-08-20 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-08-05 using wiktextract (872fc7b and 4deed51). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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