go off the rails (redirected from run off the rails)

go off the rails  (informal)

to start behaving strangely or in a way that is not acceptable to society He went off the rails in his twenties and started living on the streets. By the law of probabilities if you have five kids, one of them's going to go off the rails.

See also: rail

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go off the rails also run off the rails

to be spoiled by bad management Things were going off the rails here, and no one was getting any work done. This is a well-intentioned system that has been run off the rails.

Etymology: from the idea of a train leaving the rails (metal bars) it travels on

See also: rail