when the cat is away, the mice will play
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
People behave badly when not supervised.
Literally: Mice emerge and play when the cat is absent
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
When the cat is away, the mice will play.Vắng chủ nhà gà mọc đuôi tôm.
Tatoeba sentence #20065 (CC BY 2.0 FR, tatoeba.org, retrieved 2026-07-31)
Sources & notes
Listed on Wikipedia “List of proverbial phrases” (CC BY-SA 4.0, 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 “when the cat is away, the mice will play” mean?
People behave badly when not supervised. Literally: Mice emerge and play when the cat is absent
Is “when the cat is away, the mice will play” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.