not enough room to swing a cat

短语

释义与例句

n.
  1. 1.

    Very little space (available) (of a very small room).

    非正式 不可数

    1665, Richard Kephale Medela Pestilentiae They had not space enough (according to the vulgar saying) to swing a Cat in.

词源

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.

来源：wiktionary