cat in the sack
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
something unpleasant or of poor quality that is hidden or disguised
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Thứ gì đó khôngpleasant hoặc chất lượng kém bị che giấu
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: a cat concealed in a sack
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
I bought a cat in the sack when I purchased this used car
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “cat in the sack” mean?
something unpleasant or of poor quality that is hidden or disguised Literally: a cat concealed in a sack
Is “cat in the sack” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.