rain cats and dogs

illustration for section: rain cats and dogs
rain cats and dogs or rain buckets or rain pitchforks  {v. phr.},  {informal}
To rain very hard; come down in torrents.
In the middle of the picnic it started to rain cats and dogs, and everybody got soaked.
Terry looked out of the window and said, "It's raining pitchforks, so we can't go out to play right now."
Categories: {informal} {v. phr.}