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.
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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Regional slang from around the English-speaking world — British, Australian, Irish, Caribbean, Nigerian, Filipino, AAVE, and the hyphenated-English dialects that make the internet sound local.
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