"not enough room to swing a cat" meaning in All languages combined

See not enough room to swing a cat on Wiktionary

Noun [English]

Etymology: 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. Head templates: {{en-noun|-}} not enough room to swing a cat (uncountable)
  1. (informal) Very little space (available) (of a very small room). Tags: informal, uncountable Synonyms: confined, cramped, tiny Related terms: packed like sardines Translations (of a room, very little space available): egy gombostűt se lehetett volna leejteni (Hungarian), 猫の額 (Japanese), яблоку негде упасть (jabloku negde upastʹ) (Russian), го́лці ні́де впа́сти (hólci níde vpásty) (Ukrainian), я́блуку ні́де впа́сти (jábluku níde vpásty) (Ukrainian), does dim lle i chwipio chwannen (Welsh)
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  "etymology_text": "Attested 1665, by which point already in common use; perhaps of naval slang origin.\nWhile 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.",
  "head_templates": [
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      "expansion": "not enough room to swing a cat (uncountable)",
      "name": "en-noun"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
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          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
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        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "1665, Richard Kephale Medela Pestilentiae\nThey had not space enough (according to the vulgar saying) to swing a Cat in."
        },
        {
          "ref": "1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter VIII:",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Very little space (available) (of a very small room)."
      ],
      "id": "en-not_enough_room_to_swing_a_cat-en-noun-4FcY3vPr",
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        "(informal) Very little space (available) (of a very small room)."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "packed like sardines"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "confined"
        },
        {
          "word": "cramped"
        },
        {
          "word": "tiny"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal",
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      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "of a room, very little space available",
          "word": "egy gombostűt se lehetett volna leejteni"
        },
        {
          "code": "ja",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "sense": "of a room, very little space available",
          "word": "猫の額"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "jabloku negde upastʹ",
          "sense": "of a room, very little space available",
          "word": "яблоку негде упасть"
        },
        {
          "code": "uk",
          "lang": "Ukrainian",
          "roman": "hólci níde vpásty",
          "sense": "of a room, very little space available",
          "word": "го́лці ні́де впа́сти"
        },
        {
          "code": "uk",
          "lang": "Ukrainian",
          "roman": "jábluku níde vpásty",
          "sense": "of a room, very little space available",
          "word": "я́блуку ні́де впа́сти"
        },
        {
          "code": "cy",
          "lang": "Welsh",
          "sense": "of a room, very little space available",
          "word": "does dim lle i chwipio chwannen"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "not enough room to swing a cat"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "Attested 1665, by which point already in common use; perhaps of naval slang origin.\nWhile 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.",
  "head_templates": [
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "packed like sardines"
    }
  ],
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          "text": "1665, Richard Kephale Medela Pestilentiae\nThey had not space enough (according to the vulgar saying) to swing a Cat in."
        },
        {
          "ref": "1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter VIII:",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Very little space (available) (of a very small room)."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal) Very little space (available) (of a very small room)."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal",
        "uncountable"
      ]
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  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "confined"
    },
    {
      "word": "cramped"
    },
    {
      "word": "tiny"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "of a room, very little space available",
      "word": "egy gombostűt se lehetett volna leejteni"
    },
    {
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "sense": "of a room, very little space available",
      "word": "猫の額"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "jabloku negde upastʹ",
      "sense": "of a room, very little space available",
      "word": "яблоку негде упасть"
    },
    {
      "code": "uk",
      "lang": "Ukrainian",
      "roman": "hólci níde vpásty",
      "sense": "of a room, very little space available",
      "word": "го́лці ні́де впа́сти"
    },
    {
      "code": "uk",
      "lang": "Ukrainian",
      "roman": "jábluku níde vpásty",
      "sense": "of a room, very little space available",
      "word": "я́блуку ні́де впа́сти"
    },
    {
      "code": "cy",
      "lang": "Welsh",
      "sense": "of a room, very little space available",
      "word": "does dim lle i chwipio chwannen"
    }
  ],
  "word": "not enough room to swing 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 2024-12-15 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (8a39820 and 4401a4c). 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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