"let the cat out" meaning in English

See let the cat out in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Forms: lets the cat out [present, singular, third-person], letting the cat out [participle, present], let the cat out [participle, past], let the cat out [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|*|*|~}} let the cat out (third-person singular simple present lets the cat out, present participle letting the cat out, simple past and past participle let the cat out)
  1. Ellipsis of let the cat out of the bag. Tags: abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis Alternative form of: let the cat out of the bag
    Sense id: en-let_the_cat_out-en-verb-4PidGR1y Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 57 43 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 68 32 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 79 21
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see let, cat, out.
    Sense id: en-let_the_cat_out-en-verb-oJayeWPu

Inflected forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "lets the cat out",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "letting the cat out",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "let the cat out",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "let the cat out",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*",
        "2": "*",
        "3": "~"
      },
      "expansion": "let the cat out (third-person singular simple present lets the cat out, present participle letting the cat out, simple past and past participle let the cat out)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "alt_of": [
        {
          "word": "let the cat out of the bag"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "57 43",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "68 32",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "79 21",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Ellipsis of let the cat out of the bag."
      ],
      "id": "en-let_the_cat_out-en-verb-4PidGR1y",
      "links": [
        [
          "let the cat out of the bag",
          "let the cat out of the bag#English"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "abbreviation",
        "alt-of",
        "ellipsis"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              32,
              47
            ]
          ],
          "text": "Every night I open the door and let the cat out before retiring to bed.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see let, cat, out."
      ],
      "id": "en-let_the_cat_out-en-verb-oJayeWPu",
      "links": [
        [
          "let",
          "let#English"
        ],
        [
          "cat",
          "cat#English"
        ],
        [
          "out",
          "out#English"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "let the cat out"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English verbs",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "lets the cat out",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "letting the cat out",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "let the cat out",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "let the cat out",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*",
        "2": "*",
        "3": "~"
      },
      "expansion": "let the cat out (third-person singular simple present lets the cat out, present participle letting the cat out, simple past and past participle let the cat out)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "alt_of": [
        {
          "word": "let the cat out of the bag"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "English ellipses"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Ellipsis of let the cat out of the bag."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "let the cat out of the bag",
          "let the cat out of the bag#English"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "abbreviation",
        "alt-of",
        "ellipsis"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              32,
              47
            ]
          ],
          "text": "Every night I open the door and let the cat out before retiring to bed.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see let, cat, out."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "let",
          "let#English"
        ],
        [
          "cat",
          "cat#English"
        ],
        [
          "out",
          "out#English"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "let the cat out"
}

Download raw JSONL data for let the cat out meaning in English (1.4kB)

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-09-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-09-02 using wiktextract (ccec6f1 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.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.