bell the cat

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

“These are the mice trying to bell the cat — only they can’t get one mouse to go out and do it,” he said.

From Washington Post • May 14, 2016

His opinion that certain firms are artificially increasing the prices is very much correct but who will bell the cat, that's the moot point.

From New York Times • Oct. 13, 2014

Baby Kochamma said, and to Chacko, “Ask him where he was yesterday. Let’s bell the cat once and for all.”

From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy

No one now-a-days will bell the cat, or, like John the Baptist, tell the truth to Herod.

From Pictures of German Life in the XVth XVIth and XVIIth Centuries, Vol. II. by Freytag, Gustav

In commercial circles, there was much discussion on the new state, and the prospects of trade therewith, and there was much talk as to "who should bell the cat."

From The Life of Yakoob Beg Athalik Ghazi, and Badaulet; Ameer of Kashgar by Boulger, Demetrius Charles