It rained cats and dogs outside.

Meaning: This is a fun way to describe very heavy rain. It means that the rain is coming down in sheets, so much that it looks like cats and dogs are falling from the sky.

Choice of Words: Rained is a past tense of rain, which means water falling from the sky. Cats and dogs are common household pets. When you put them together, it means heavy rain.

Alternative Expressions

It was raining like crazy outside.

Meaning: This means that it was raining very heavily outside. It's like saying, The rain was so heavy, it was like it was raining like crazy.

Choice of Words: Was raining is the past tense of rain, and it describes the falling of water from the sky. Like crazy is an idiom that means very intensely. In this sentence, the phrase "raining like crazy" means that it was raining very heavily.

The rain was coming down in sheets outside.

Meaning: This means that it was raining very heavily outside. It's like saying, The rain was so heavy, it was like it was coming down in sheets.

Choice of Words: Rain is the water that falls from the sky. Coming down is a verb that describes the movement of the rain from the sky to the ground. Sheets are large pieces of fabric. In this sentence, the phrase "coming down in sheets" means that the rain was falling very heavily.

Related Expressions