Do you know how the words “kindle” and “intrigue” relate to cats? Or where the concern about cats and curiosity came from? The cat’s out of the bag! Read on to discover these and more cat-related facts.

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We’ve all heard of a pack of wolves and a herd of cattle, but did you know that the correct collective noun for a ‘group’ of cats is a clowder? There are also a few other linguistically valid ways to refer to a group of cats – most commonly a clutter or a glaring, but also a nuisance or doubt when referring to house cats specifically.

Kittens

A group of kittens – quite distinct from cats in more than just the language we use to speak about them – are referred to as a kindle, litter, or intrigue.

Wild Cats

The collective noun for a group of wild cats is a destruction.

Big cats

While you’d have to be very lucky – or unlucky – to ever spot a group of big cats in the wild, their collective terms are pretty interesting and in some instances, very suitable:

  • Tigers: streak, ambush, hide
  • Lions: pride, salut, troop, sowse
  • Jaguars: jamboree
  • Leopards: leap
  • Cheetahs: coalition.

 Top 10 cat idioms

  1. The cat’s pyjamas: an expression coined in the 1920’s to refer to someone or something fantastic
  2. It’s raining cats and dogs: to rain very heavily
  3. Like a cat on a hot tin roof: someone who is incredibly nervous. Most renowned as the title of Tennessee Williams’s 1955 Pulitzer Prize–winning play.
  4. Curiosity killed the cat: curiosity can get you into trouble. Thought to derive from Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing
  5. Look like something the cat dragged in: to look very unkempt and dirty, or to ironically acknowledge the arrival of someone whose presence is unwelcome
  6. Look like the cat that ate the canary: someone who appears to be quite smug about something
  7. The cat’s out of the bag: a secret has been divulged
  8. More than one way to skin a cat: there is more than one solution to a problem
  9. Cat got your tongue?: why aren’t you saying anything?
  10. When the cat’s away the mice will play: without the presence of authority, subordinates will run amok

Are you a cat person? Check out 10 things only cat people understand here.