more than one way to skin a cat

Idioms and Phrases

More than one method to reach the same end, as in We can get around that by renting instead of buying a computer—there's more than one way to skin a cat . This expression may be an American version of the earlier British more ways of killing a cat , but why the death of a cat should be alluded to at all is not clear. [Second half of 1800s]