Dictionary — ontologydriven

dead cat en · NOUN · etymology 1

[Alt: A dark furry cover on a boom microphone] The instrument is named for its resemblance to an actual dead cat.

Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see dead, cat.
(figuratively, qualifier:sound engineering) A furry windscreen; a furry cover placed over a microphone to muffle the sound of wind.
- 2019, July 2. "Film 101: What Is a Boom Operator? Understanding the Job of a Boom Operator", Masterclass.com. "The mic blimp is a wind-resistant cover that goes over the boom mic to reduce environmental background noise. It's commonly referred to as a "dead cat", because it's covered in fuzzy gray hair."
- "A camera operator needs batteries, lenses, cards, filters. A wardrobe supervisor has racks of costumes. A sound recorder carries a dead cat on a stick. But a director only needs his folder." 2012 August 16, Neil Oseman, Inside the Director's Folder:

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dead cats	Number=Plur		lexicographic

Introduced by former UK prime minister and then-mayor of London Boris Johnson in 2013 in a column for The Daily Telegraph.

(figuratively, neologism) A shocking or sensational announcement made in order to distract one's political base from existing problems and previous failures.
- But by Wednesday night, a massive dead cat was required to distract from a day of denied parties and prioritised pets, so Johnson banged plan B on the kitchen table, alienating backbench Covid sceptics. 2021 December 12, Stewart Lee, “More sacrifices for Boris, the fool king of pantomime Britain”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 03 Dec 2022:
- dead cat strategy
- Boris Johnson looked strained as he entered the House of Commons at midday on Wednesday, hoping that a "dead cat" and an apology over Downing Street parties would dig him out of his latest political hole. 2021 December 8, George Parker, Jasmine Cameron-Chileshe, Jim Pickard, Sebastian Payne, “Boris Johnson bets on a 'dead cat' strategy to get him out of trouble”, in Financial Times, archived from the original on 08 Dec 2021:
- The problem is that once the idea of the dead cat had been discovered, suddenly there were deceased felines everywhere. Everything was a dead cat—every policy, every interview, every gaffe. Everything existed only to detract attention from something else. 2019 November 19, Charlotte Lydia Riley, “Dear journalists: please stop calling everything a “dead cat””, in Prospect Magazine, archived from the original on 06 Jan 2023:

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dead cats	Number=Plur		lexicographic

Introduced by former UK prime minister and then-mayor of London Boris Johnson in 2013 in a column for The Daily Telegraph.

(ambitransitive, figuratively) To announce (something) as a dead cat; to raise an issue as a political distraction.
- A part of the Right's offensive, however, was to not only be bloody, bold, resolute and brief in their media messaging, but also be smart in their use of dead-catting, a media offensive technique to which this book has previously referred. 2021, Grant Rodwell, Education Policy and the Political Right:
- Long picked scars and carefully nurtured injustices can serve a purpose, and we can see it in Obrador's dead catting, the narrative of Brexit, the saga of the Falkland Islands, the Greek financial crisis, and independence movements in democratic nations across Europe. 2021, Otto English, Fake History, page 170:

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dead catted	Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part	lexicographic
dead catted	Tense=Past	lexicographic
dead catting	Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part	lexicographic
dead cats	Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres	lexicographic