- Meaning
- This idiom describes someone who repeatedly escapes danger, misfortune, or failure, seemingly defying odds with remarkable resilience or luck, as if possessing the mythical nine lives of a cat. It conveys a sense of uncanny survival or recovery, used in adventurous, personal, or dramatic contexts to highlight extraordinary endurance or fortune. The phrase carries a tone of awe, admiration, or humor, reflecting cultural fascination with cats’ agility and folklore about their multiple lives. It resonates in storytelling and everyday speech, where tales of near-misses or comebacks captivate listeners, and often implies a charmed or tenacious quality that allows someone to bounce back repeatedly, making it a vivid metaphor for resilience in the face of adversity.
- Origin
- The phrase has roots in ancient Egyptian mythology, where cats were revered and associated with survival, as seen in the goddess Bastet’s feline imagery. The concept of ‘nine lives’ emerged in European folklore by the Middle Ages, with nine symbolizing magic or completeness. In English, it appeared in William Baldwin’s 1553 *Beware the Cat*, which references cats’ multiple lives. The modern form was recorded in John Ray’s 1678 *English Proverbs*: ‘A cat has nine lives.’ The idiom gained traction in 18th-century Britain, reflecting a culture of superstition, as seen in Jonathan Swift’s *Gulliver’s Travels* (1726), which uses feline imagery. Its use grew in 19th-century British and American literature, particularly in adventure tales, with Mark Twain’s *Huckleberry Finn* (1884) celebrating survivors. The phrase’s adoption was amplified in the 20th century through media, notably in wartime stories of heroic escapes and films like *Cat People* (1942). Its vivid imagery, rooted in feline lore, and its applicability to survival ensured its widespread use across English-speaking cultures, from war memoirs to sports heroics.
- Variants
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- Like a cat with nine lives
- Cat with nine lives
- Like a cat with seven lives
- Nine lives like a cat
- Examples
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- He’s like a cat with nine lives, surviving three car accidents unscathed.
- Cat with nine lives, she bounced back from bankruptcy to start a new business.
- Like a cat with seven lives, he escaped danger again in the war zone.
- Nine lives like a cat, that team keeps winning despite constant setbacks.
- She’s like a cat with nine lives, recovering from illness time after time.
- Like a cat with nine lives, he dodged failure with yet another last-minute deal.
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