Shoot the cat is a wonderfully vivid piece of obsolete British slang meaning to vomit — particularly after excessive drinking. The expression has the dark, irreverent humour typical of old British pub and naval vernacular, where bodily functions were described in theatrical, often animal-related terms. While the phrase itself has fallen out of everyday use, it survives as a piece of historical slang and turns up in discussions of English language history and 18th–19th century colloquialisms.
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UK and Irish slang — Cockney, Scouse, Geordie, Yorkshire, Glaswegian, Brummie, Welsh, West Country, plus Irish English. Centuries of regional dialects feeding into modern British and Irish street talk.
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He'd drunk three flagons of porter by midnight and had to step outside to shoot the cat.
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(UK, slang, obsolete) To vomit.
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