English Idioms – Sweating Buckets

Today’s idiom is “sweating buckets” and I sweat buckets every summer. Maybe you can imagine already that this idiom means to sweat a lot. Buckets can be used to collect water, and often in an emergency. When a boat (a small boat) is filling with water this is a problem, the boat could sink. We use a small bucket to take the water out of the boat.
(It is called a “bailing bucket”)

Another problem is if we have a leak in our roof or ceiling and water is dripping down on the floor.
When this happens we usually use a bucket to collect the water.

These are both problems and the feeling is that there is too much water. If we are sweating a lot the feeling is usually not good, and we are uncomfortable so we use bucket to say it’s too much.