From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Unknown, but see examples of early use in Citations .
rain cats and dogs (third-person singular simple present rains cats and dogs , present participle raining cats and dogs , simple past and past participle rained cats and dogs )
( idiomatic , impersonal ) To rain very heavily .
Synonyms: bucket , bucket down , chuck it down , come down cats and dogs , rain buckets , rain pitchforks , pelt , ( vulgar ) piss down , ( vulgar ) piss it down , pour , pour cats and dogs , storm cats and dogs , stream , teem , tip it down
1929 , L[ucy] M[aud] Montgomery , “Marigold Entertains”, in Magic for Marigold , Toronto, Ont.: McClelland and Stewart , →OCLC , section 4, page 190 :[ " ] Those weather-gaws aren't out for nothing. It'll rain cats and dogs to-morrow." Marigold wondered what weather-gaws were—and then forgot in thinking how interesting it would be in it really rained cats and dogs. Little silk-eared kittens everywhere by the basketful—loads of darling pudgy puppies.
to rain very heavily
Arabic: أَمْطَرَ بِغَزَارَة ( ʔamṭara bi-ḡazāra )
Azerbaijani: tut ucundan, göyə çıx
Breton: Gwelet a ran da gazh er jardin
Bulgarian: вали́ като из ведро́ ( valí kato iz vedró )
Catalan: ploure a bots i barrals (ca)
Chinese:
Cantonese: 落狗屎 (yue) ( lok6 gau2 si2 )
Hokkien: 㴙㴙落 (zh-min-nan) ( tsa̍p-tsa̍p-lo̍h )
Mandarin: 暴雨如注 (zh) , 傾盆大雨 / 倾盆大雨 (zh) ( qīngpéndàyǔ )
Czech: lít jako z konve (cs) , padat trakaře
Dutch: pijpenstelen regenen (nl) , regenen dat het giet
Esperanto: pluvegi
Finnish: sataa kaatamalla , sataa äkäisiä ämmiä äkeet selässä , sataa kuin saavista kaataen
French: pleuvoir des cordes (fr) , pleuvoir à verse (fr) , pleuvoir des hallebardes (fr) , pleuvoir comme vache qui pisse (fr) , ( Québec ) pleuvoir à boire debout (fr) , ( Belgium ) dracher (fr) , pleuvoir à seaux (fr)
Galician: arroiar , diluviar , chover a chuzos , chover a cachón (gl) , chover a Deus dar auga , chover a caldeiros (gl)
Georgian: კოკისპირული წვიმა ( ḳoḳisṗiruli c̣vima )
German: Bindfäden regnen (de) , in Strömen regnen (de)
Greek: βρέχει με το τουλούμι ( vréchei me to touloúmi ) , ρίχνει καρεκλοπόδαρα ( ríchnei kareklopódara ) , ρίχνει καντάρια ( ríchnei kantária )
Hungarian: zuhog, mintha dézsából öntenék (hu)
Icelandic: vera mígandi rigning , rigna eldi og brennisteini
Interlingua: pluver torrentialmente
Irish: sceana gréasaí a chur
Italian: piovere a catinelle , diluviare (it) , scrosciare (it) , piovere come Dio la manda
Japanese: 土砂降り になる ( どしゃぶりになる, doshaburi ni naru )
Korean: 비가 억수같이 쏟아진다 ( bi-ga eoksu-gachi ssodajinda )
Norwegian:
Bokmål: høljeregne (no) , høljregne (no) , regne sinte kjerringer ( literally “ rain mad hags ” )
Nynorsk: høljeregne , ausregne
Polish: lać jak z cebra (pl)
Portuguese: o céu vir abaixo , chover a cântaros (pt) ( Portugal ) , chover a potes ( Portugal ) , cair um toró ( Brazil ) , chover canivetes ( Brazil )
Romanian: ploua cu găleata
Russian: лить как из ведра́ ( litʹ kak iz vedrá )
Slovak: liať ako z krhly
Spanish: llover a cántaros (es) , llover a mares (es) , caer chuzos de punta (es)
Swedish: ösregna (sv) , spöregna (sv) , stå som spön i backen (sv)
Turkish: bardaktan boşalırcasına yağmak , şakır şakır yağmur
Ukrainian: ллє як з відра ( llje jak z vidra )
Vietnamese: (trời ) mưa xối xả , (trời ) mưa như trút
Welsh: bwrw hen wragedd â ffyn (cy)