ape (one's) behavior

To mimic the behavior of one, generally in a mocking or derisive manner. It is pretty standard now for comedians to ape the president's behavior and manner of speech. Would you stop aping your little brother's behavior? That's just not nice. The headmaster caught me aping his behavior, and now, I have detention.

ape hangers

slang Tall, angled handlebars on a motorcycle. I like how ape hangers look, but they make my arms go numb after a while. Ape hangers and highway pegs are a must, in my opinion. Do you think I should get ape hangers on my new bike?

ape leader

obsolete A pejorative term for an older single woman; a spinster or old maid. From an old proverb that women who die unmarried are fated to lead apes—considered at the time to be unproductive animals—in hell. At the risk of being labeled an ape leader by ignorant people, I have chosen a life without marriage, and I am perfectly happy to do so. Well, I would rather be an ape leader than trapped in a loveless marriage, like you. Why would you turn down an eligible bachelor like him? It's almost like you want to become an ape leader!

aped

slang Drunk. Do you remember last night at the bar at all? You were really aped! Help him get home, will ya? He started drinking whiskey, and now he's aped. Ugh, my head is pounding. I need to remember this feeling the next time I think getting aped is a good idea.

go ape

slang

1. To become wildly or uncontrollably angry. My parents went totally ape when they found out I'd wrecked the car! Now, don't go ape or anything, but I've decided to move to Canada. You broke her prized antique vase? Oh yeah, she's definitely gonna go ape!

2. To become extremely excited or enthusiastic (about something). I've never understood that pop star's popularity, but kids just go ape over her music. Everyone I know has gone ape over the new Roboformers movie—they say the special effects are really incredible. Tomorrow's our last day of school, woo hoo! I'm already going ape!

See also: ape, go

go ape over (someone or something)

slang

1. To become wildly or uncontrollably angry about someone or something. My parents went totally ape over the news that I'd wrecked the car! Now, don't go ape over it, but I've decided to move to Canada. You broke her prized antique vase? Oh yeah, she's definitely gonna go ape over that!

2. To become extremely excited or enthusiastic about someone or something. I've never understood that pop star's popularity, but kids just go ape over her. Everyone I know has gone ape over the new Roboformers movie—they say the special effects are really incredible. Tomorrow's our last day of school, and I'm already going ape over it!

naked ape

dated A human being, referring to the fact that humans are the only primates not entirely covered in hair. The phrase comes from zoologist Desmond Morris's 1967 book The Naked Ape. Yeah, in my experience, we naked apes aren't that bright once alcohol is involved.

go ape (over someone or something)

Sl. to become very excited over something. I just go ape over chocolate. Sam went ape over Mary.

See also: ape, go

go ape

Become wildly excited or enthusiastic. For example, The audience went ape over the band. This idiom is a modern version of the older go berserk. It fancifully equates frenzy with an ape's behavior. [Second half of 1900s] Also see go bananas.

See also: ape, go

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

go ape

INFORMAL

If someone goes ape, they start to behave in an uncontrolled way, usually because they are very excited or very angry. The crowd went ape. Is he never tempted to break away, to go ape for a period? Note: You can also say that someone goes ape crazy. You don't get the chance to go ape crazy. Note: You can also say that someone goes apeshit. If we mentioned her ex-husband, she would literally go apeshit. Note: People who behave in a violent or uncontrolled way are being compared with apes.

See also: ape, go

Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012

go ape

go wild; become violently excited. informal

Originally mid 20th-century North American slang, this expression possibly refers to the 1933 movie King Kong, which stars a giant ape-like monster.

See also: ape, go

Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

go ˈape

(also go ˈapeshit taboo) (slang, especially American English) become extremely angry or excited: The manager went ape when the team lost yet another game.

See also: ape, go

Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

ape

n. a hoodlum or strong-arm man, especially if big and strong. (Underworld.) Tell your ape to let me go!

ape hangers

n. long steering handles on a bicycle or motorcycle. Who is that guy riding the bike with ape hangers?

aped

(ept)

mod. alcohol intoxicated. I’ve never seen my brother so totally aped before.

go ape (over someone/something)

in. to become very excited over someone or something. I just go ape over chocolate.

See also: ape, go, over, someone, something

go ape

verb

See go ape over someone/something

See also: ape, go

go ape

Informal

To become wildly excited or angry: went ape at the party; went ape when she saw the parking ticket.

See also: ape, go

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

go ape, to

To act frenzied with delight, fury, or some other strong emotion. Why such behavior should be described as apelike is not known. The slangy term dates from about 1950 and is used in such contexts as “The audience went ape over the new jazz combo,” or “The school board goes ape over the very mention of budget cuts.” A related and possibly derivative cliché is to go bananas, with roughly the same meaning. It dates from the 1960s. The National Public Radio show All Things Considered had it: “When you mention the word ‘nuclear,’ people start to go bananas” (April 13, 1983). See also go ballistic.

See also: go, to

See also:

References in classic literature

Like the others of his tribe, he differed in several minor essentials from the apes of Tarzan's boyhood.

"Who are you," he asked, "who threatens Tarzan of the Apes?"

But Tarzan of the Apes would not be king of the tribe of Akut.

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The lesson served its purpose--the young apes kept out of his way, as young apes should when their betters were about, and the old bulls made no attempt to encroach upon his prerogatives.

Among other things he told of seeing a great tribe of strange-looking apes.

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The ape would have turned upon the sleeping blacks that he might wreak his pent vengeance; but Tarzan would not permit it.

He could imagine their terror when they awoke and found the dead body of their comrade fast in the cage where they had left the great ape safely secured but a few minutes before.

Tarzan and Taug took to the trees together, the shaggy coat of the fierce ape brushing the sleek skin of the English lordling as they passed through the primeval jungle side by side.

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"Thou dost not understand me, Sancho," said Don Quixote; "I only mean he must have made some compact with the devil to infuse this power into the ape, that he may get his living, and after he has grown rich he will give him his soul, which is what the enemy of mankind wants; this I am led to believe by observing that the ape only answers about things past or present, and the devil's knowledge extends no further; for the future he knows only by guesswork, and that not always; for it is reserved for God alone to know the times and the seasons, and for him there is neither past nor future; all is present.

"Still," said Sancho, "I would be glad if your worship would make Master Pedro ask his ape whether what happened your worship in the cave of Montesinos is true; for, begging your worship's pardon, I, for my part, take it to have been all flam and lies, or at any rate something you dreamt."

Don Quixote explained his wish, and begged him to ask his ape at once to tell him whether certain things which had happened to him in the cave of Montesinos were dreams or realities, for to him they appeared to partake of both.

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Tarzan of the Apes possessed a woodcraft scarcely short of the marvelous but even Tarzan's wondrous senses were not infallible.

At that time all of the apes looked much alike to Bertha Kircher, nor was it until some time later that she realized that each differed from the others in individual characteristics of face and figure as do individuals of the human races.

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Then it was that Tarzan of the Apes saw his chance.

Thus Tarzan of the Apes left them filled with terror at this new manifestation of the presence of some unseen and unearthly evil power which lurked in the forest about their village.

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