up to Idioms

No room to swing a cat

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Generated image of a man in a very small room
The idiom no room to swing a cat means a place is very small or crowded, with hardly any space to move around. People use this expression when a room or area feels too tight.

The saying comes from the idea that swinging something around needs a lot of space, and it jokingly uses a cat as the thing to swing around because cats are small enough to swing.

When I saw my new dorm room, I joked there was no room to swing a cat.