‘Raining Cats and Dogs’ in the Written Record
The history of raining cats and dogs is better anchored by dated expressions than by stories about animals falling from roofs. The Library of Congress identifies a related phrase in Henry Vaughan’s 1651 collection Olor Iscanus, followed by Richard Brome’s reference to dogs and polecats in 1652. These examples show that unusual animal-rain imagery circulated before the most familiar eighteenth-century wording. 1
They do not prove that either writer invented the modern expression. Printed examples establish that words were used by a particular date; speech may have circulated earlier without surviving in the record. A first known example and an actual first use are different claims. 12
Jonathan Swift and the familiar wording
Jonathan Swift used rain cats and dogs in his 1738 satirical conversation collection. The wording is close to the familiar modern idiom. His literary use helps document circulation, but does not settle whether he coined it or repeated an existing expression. 1
Swift’s earlier poem about a city shower described the unpleasant contents of flooded streets. That has encouraged a literal explanation involving animal remains swept along by water. The association is suggestive, but a scene that could inspire an idiom is not proof that it did. 12
Why the thatched-roof story fails
A popular tale says animals sheltered in thatched roofs and fell out during storms. It gives the expression a vivid miniature scene, yet lacks a demonstrated historical link to the early wording. The story’s ability to explain the phrase imaginatively should not be confused with documentary evidence. 2
Other suggestions involve mythology, foreign words, or intense hostility between cats and dogs. Each needs linguistic and chronological support. Listing them as possibilities is more honest than choosing the most colorful account and presenting it as a recovered fact. 12
An idiom does not need a literal event
English uses many exaggerated expressions for rain. Cats and dogs can function as an emphatic, absurd image without requiring an event in which pets actually fell from the sky. The modern meaning is stable even while the precise derivation remains unresolved. 2
The best-supported history therefore has two parts: a record of related seventeenth-century phrases and familiar eighteenth-century wording, followed by uncertainty about their origin. Keeping those parts separate gives readers more reliable information than a confidently narrated household accident. 12
The story at a glance
‘Raining Cats and Dogs’ Timeline
Follow the evidence
Sources & further reading
Numbered links in the text point to these sources. Dates and interpretations are identified as approximate or disputed where the evidence requires it.