English

Adjective

like a cat in a strange garret ‎(not comparable)

1. (US, simile) Having a feeling of uncertainty and misapprehension due to being in an unfamiliar situation.
   • 1852 William L. G. Smith - Life at the South: Or, "Uncle Tom's Cabin" as it is

     Well, mass'r, I can't say for Lucinda and Dinah, but I should feel like a cat in a strange garret.

   • 1862 Annual Report of the Secretary of the Vermont Board of Education

     Mothers cannot conveniently leave home to get about, and fathers, to use their own expression, "feel like a cat in a strange garret," when screwed up in one of the seats to the school house.