guilty as a cat in a goldfish bowl

English

Adjective

guilty as a cat in a goldfish bowl (not comparable)

  1. (simile, rare) Conspicuously guilty.
    • 1981, Daniel Goldberg (producer), Heavy Metal (film), Canadian Film Development:
      But the prosecutor’s got you cold! You’re as guilty as a cat in a goldfish bowl!
    • 1994 November 11, Brad Ensminger, “Hang 'Em High”, in alt.activism.death-penalty‎[1] (Usenet):
      Sitting in a comfy air-conditioned cell watching cable tv while waiting for their state-appointed lawyer to spring them on a loophole even though they're as guilty as a cat in a goldfish bowl. The victim is still dead and therefore has no rights.
    • 2000 June 13, Flykiller, “O.J. Goes on the Offensive”, in alt.rush-limbaugh‎[2] (Usenet):
      OJ is as guilty as a cat in a goldfish bowl, and everybody knows it.
    • 2012, Michael Juge, Refurbished Soul, Book Three of the Shift Trilogy, page 140:
      What are you talking about, Ezra? He's as guilty as a cat in a goldfish bowl. Sheriff Schadenfreude had been tracking his movements and connections for some time.”
    • 2025, George Selgin, False Dawn, The New Deal and the Promise of Recovery, 1933–1947:
      If circumstantial evidence can also be thrown on the scales in assessing the HOLC's culpability, that evidence also tends to exonerate the HOLC, while making the FHA look as guilty as a cat in a goldfish bowl.
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