| 词汇 | no room to swing a cat |
| 词源 | no room to swing a cat. This phrase probably has something to do with the old “sport” of swinging cats by the tails as targets for archers. The expression goes back at least to the mid-1600s, and cat-o’-nine-tails isn’t recorded until about 1670, which makes it unlikely that the phrase originated with some sea cap- tain having no room to punish a rebellious sailor with a “cat.” The only other plausible explanation is that cat in this case refers to a sailor’s hammock or cot, there being little room on olden ships to swing one, but there are no quotations to support this theory. |
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