Dictionary

not enough room to swing a cat en · NOUN

Etymology

Attested 1665, by which point already in common use; perhaps of naval slang origin. While it is frequently stated that the phrase is derived from cat-o’-nine-tails (“type of whip”), this latter term is only attested from 1695, and hence this idiom presumably derived from literally swinging a cat around, as by the tail.

Meanings

1. (informal, uncountable) Very little space (available) (of a very small room).
   • 1665, Richard Kephale Medela Pestilentiae They had not space enough (according to the vulgar saying) to swing a Cat in.
   • My own apartment, to take a case in point, was a sort of hermit's cell in which one would have been hard put to it to swing a cat, even a smaller one than Augustus, not of course that one often wants to do much cat-swinging. 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter VIII:

Relateds

tiny · cramped · packed like sardines · confined

Translations (8)

pl ciasnota (of a room, very little space available) · cy does dim lle i chwipio chwannen (of a room, very little space available) · uk я́блуку ні́де впа́сти (of a room, very little space available) · ja 猫の額 (of a room, very little space available) · uk го́лці ні́де впа́сти (of a room, very little space available) · ru яблоку негде упасть (of a room, very little space available) · fi ahdas kuin mikä (of a room, very little space available) · hu egy gombostűt se lehetett volna leejteni (of a room, very little space available)