Animal idioms

Answers in this topic

• What does ‘monkey business’ mean?
• What does ‘a wild-goose chase’ mean?
• What does ‘take the bull by the horns’ mean?
• What does ‘the lion's share’ mean?
• What does ‘crocodile tears’ mean?
• What does ‘a snake in the grass’ mean?
• What does ‘when pigs fly’ mean?
• What does ‘the black sheep of the family’ mean?
• What does ‘a red herring’ mean?
• What does ‘there are plenty of fish in the sea’ mean?
• What does ‘a fish out of water’ mean?
• What does ‘a dark horse’ mean?
• What does ‘straight from the horse's mouth’ mean?
• What does ‘hold your horses’ mean?
• What does ‘don't count your chickens before they hatch’ mean?
• What does ‘the early bird catches the worm’ mean?
• What does ‘a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush’ mean?
• What does ‘kill two birds with one stone’ mean?
• What does ‘a fly in the ointment’ mean?
• What does ‘the elephant in the room’ mean?
• What does ‘a leopard cannot change its spots’ mean?
• What does ‘a wolf in sheep's clothing’ mean?
• What does ‘curiosity killed the cat’ mean?
• What does ‘let the cat out of the bag’ mean?
• What does ‘raining cats and dogs’ mean?

Questions

Where do the origins for animal idioms come from?

Origins on this page are drawn from public-domain reference works, primarily Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898). Where the origin is disputed or unknown, the entry says so plainly.

Are these idioms still in modern use?

Most are in everyday English; a few are chiefly literary or old-fashioned, and those are flagged in the usage notes.