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46:", an instrument of punishment once used on Royal Navy vessels. The instrument was purportedly stored in a red sack, and a sailor who revealed the transgressions of another would be "letting the cat out of the bag". Another suggested derivation is from the "
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in a sack would actually be sold a (less valuable) cat, and would not realise the deception until the bag was opened.
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The derivation of the phrase is not clear. One suggestion is that the phrase refers to the whip-like "
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in a movie or play. It is also known as to reveal a secret carelessly or by mistake.
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on 4 May 1530 as referenced in Lyndal Roper's 2016 biography about Martin Luther, "
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made reference to the expression "let the cat out of the bag" in a letter to
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