"like a cat on a hot tin roof" meaning in English

See like a cat on a hot tin roof in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Prepositional phrase

Audio: En-au-like a cat on a hot tin roof.ogg [Australia]
Etymology: A simile developed from the behaviour of a cat observed on a hot tin roof. Head templates: {{head|en|prepositional phrase|head=}} like a cat on a hot tin roof, {{en-PP}} like a cat on a hot tin roof
  1. (simile, colloquial, chiefly US) Jumpy, nervous. Wikipedia link: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Tags: US, colloquial Categories (topical): Bricks Categories (lifeform): Cats

Download JSON data for like a cat on a hot tin roof meaning in English (2.4kB)

{
  "etymology_text": "A simile developed from the behaviour of a cat observed on a hot tin roof.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "prepositional phrase",
        "head": ""
      },
      "expansion": "like a cat on a hot tin roof",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "like a cat on a hot tin roof",
      "name": "en-PP"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "prep_phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "American English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with topic categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English similes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Bricks",
          "orig": "en:Bricks",
          "parents": [
            "Building materials",
            "Construction",
            "Materials",
            "Architecture",
            "Engineering",
            "Manufacturing",
            "Applied sciences",
            "Art",
            "Technology",
            "Human activity",
            "Sciences",
            "Culture",
            "All topics",
            "Human behaviour",
            "Society",
            "Fundamental",
            "Human"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "lifeform",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Cats",
          "orig": "en:Cats",
          "parents": [
            "Felids",
            "Carnivores",
            "Mammals",
            "Vertebrates",
            "Chordates",
            "Animals",
            "Lifeforms",
            "All topics",
            "Life",
            "Fundamental",
            "Nature"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Jumpy, nervous."
      ],
      "id": "en-like_a_cat_on_a_hot_tin_roof-en-prep_phrase-FVbLsTA2",
      "links": [
        [
          "Jumpy",
          "jumpy"
        ],
        [
          "nervous",
          "nervous"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "simile",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(simile, colloquial, chiefly US) Jumpy, nervous."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "colloquial"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-like a cat on a hot tin roof.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/6c/En-au-like_a_cat_on_a_hot_tin_roof.ogg/En-au-like_a_cat_on_a_hot_tin_roof.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/En-au-like_a_cat_on_a_hot_tin_roof.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "like a cat on a hot tin roof"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "A simile developed from the behaviour of a cat observed on a hot tin roof.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "prepositional phrase",
        "head": ""
      },
      "expansion": "like a cat on a hot tin roof",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "like a cat on a hot tin roof",
      "name": "en-PP"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "prep_phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "American English",
        "English colloquialisms",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English prepositional phrases",
        "English similes",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
        "en:Bricks",
        "en:Cats"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Jumpy, nervous."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Jumpy",
          "jumpy"
        ],
        [
          "nervous",
          "nervous"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "simile",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(simile, colloquial, chiefly US) Jumpy, nervous."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "colloquial"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-like a cat on a hot tin roof.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/6c/En-au-like_a_cat_on_a_hot_tin_roof.ogg/En-au-like_a_cat_on_a_hot_tin_roof.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/En-au-like_a_cat_on_a_hot_tin_roof.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "like a cat on a hot tin roof"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-24 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (82c8ff9 and f4967a5). 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.