like a cat on a hot tin roof

A simile developed from the behaviour of a cat observed on a hot tin roof.

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like a cat on a hot tin roof

1. (simile, colloquial, chiefly US) Jumpy, nervous.

Originally phrased as like a cat on hot bricks, but this form is less common because of the 1955 play and subsequent movie titled Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.