raining cats and dogs

Origin

Picture London in the 17th century, a bustling metropolis with less-than-perfect sanitation. When heavy rains struck, they often overwhelmed the rudimentary drainage systems, sweeping all manner of debris—including tragically, dead animals like cats and dogs—through the streets. This grim reality painted a vivid, if macabre, image of a downpour so intense it seemed to literally rain animals. While theories also exist about animals falling from thatched roofs during violent storms, the image of a deluge washing creatures through the streets stuck. The phrase was famously solidified in literature by Jonathan Swift in his 1710 poem "A Description of a City Shower," cementing its place in the English lexicon.