let the cat out of the bag

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Verb

let the cat out of the bag

1. (idiomatic) To disclose a secret; to let a secret be known, often inadvertently.

   It was going to be a surprise party until someone let the cat out of the bag.

   • 1849, Charlotte Brontë, Shirley

     He proved himself as decent, decorous, and conscientious as Peter was rampant, boisterous, and — This last epithet I choose to suppress, because it would let the cat out of the bag.

Synonyms

• (to let a secret be known) spill the beans, talk, tattle, blab, peach (obsolete), babble, sing

Translations

• French: vendre la mèche
• German: die Katze aus dem Sack lassen
• Italian: spifferare
• Portuguese: dar com a língua nos dentes
• Russian: вы́нести сор из избы
• Spanish: irse de la lengua, levantar la liebre, descubrirse el pastel, destapar la olla

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