rain buckets

From figurative sense of pouring from buckets.

rain buckets (third-person singular simple present rains buckets, present participle raining buckets, simple past and past participle rained buckets)

1. (idiomatic) To rain heavily
   • 1923, Pío Baroja, Caesar or Nothing:

     After lunching, Caesar went out to post some cards, and as it was raining buckets, he took refuge in the arcades of the Piazza Esedra

   • 2018, Andrea Camilleri, The Pyramid of Mud, Penguin Books, page 167:

     It was still raining buckets when he stepped into his house, even though the worst seemed almost over.

• rain cats and dogs