What does it's raining cats and dogs mean?

The well-known antipathy between cats and dogs and their consequential fights has been suggested as a metaphor for stormy weather. That at least is a plausible theory. It pupports 'cats and dogs' to be an intensifier and that the expression means 'raining in a bad way'. read more

Another suggestion is that 'raining cats and dogs' comes from a version of the French word 'catadoupe', meaning waterfall. Again, no evidence. If the phrase were just 'raining cats', or even if there also existed a French word 'dogadoupe', we might be going somewhere with this one. read more

it's raining cats and dogs! definition: something that you say when it is raining heavily. Learn more. read more

Raining Cats and Dogs Meaning. Definition: Raining a lot; heavy precipitation. Origin of Raining Cats and Dogs. This expression became popular in the 1800s. However, this idiom has variations that occurred even earlier. There is a lot of speculation about the origin of this idiom. One morbid theory has more evidence than the others. read more