English Idiom of the Day: Sing like a canary

Sing like a canary

To sing like a canary:

to tell the police everything you know about a crime you were involved in

to tell the authorities everything you know

※ Compare with rat. These two phrases carry the same meaning, but with a different nuance and perspective. A canary is a positive word used by police or authorities: a criminal who tells everything they know and helps solve a crime is a useful canary.

Example 1:

“After the bank robbery, police arrested the getaway driver. It wasn’t long before he was singing like a canary. They arrested everyone else within three days.”

Example 2:

The police promised the drug dealer a lighter sentence if he told them who his supplier was, so he sang like a canary.

Example 3:

The school headmaster called each child in one-by-one, and eventually one child sang like a canary and told him exactly how they broke the school computer.