Dictionary

guilty as a cat in a goldfish bowl en · ADJ

Meanings

1. (not-comparable, qualifier:simile, rare) Conspicuously guilty.
   • What are you talking about, Ezra? He's as guilty as a cat in a goldfish bowl. Sheriff Schadenfreude had been tracking his movements and connections for some time.” 2012, Michael Juge, Refurbished Soul, Book Three of the Shift Trilogy, page 140:
   • OJ is as guilty as a cat in a goldfish bowl, and everybody knows it. 2000 June 13, Flykiller, “O.J. Goes on the Offensive”, in alt.rush-limbaugh (Usenet):
   • But the prosecutor’s got you cold! You’re as guilty as a cat in a goldfish bowl! 1981, Daniel Goldberg (producer), Heavy Metal (film), Canadian Film Development:
   • Sitting in a comfy air-conditioned cell watching cable tv while waiting for their state-appointed lawyer to spring them on a loophole even though they're as guilty as a cat in a goldfish bowl. The victim is still dead and therefore has no rights. 1994 November 11, Brad Ensminger, “Hang 'Em High”, in alt.activism.death-penalty (Usenet):
   • If circumstantial evidence can also be thrown on the scales in assessing the HOLC's culpability, that evidence also tends to exonerate the HOLC, while making the FHA look as guilty as a cat in a goldfish bowl. 2025, George Selgin, False Dawn, The New Deal and the Promise of Recovery, 1933–1947: