angry

mad enough to chew nails (and spit rivets)

 and angry enough to chew nails; mad enough to spit nails

Inf. Fig. very angry, as if to be able to bite through metal nails. I am mad enough to chew nails! Who took my checkbook? Her sudden tirade made him angry enough to chew nails. He stomped in, mad enough to chew nails and spit rivets.

See also: chew, enough, mad, nail

wax angry

 and wax wroth

Fig. to speak in anger and with indignity. Seeing the damage done by the careless children caused the preacher to wax wroth at their parents.

See also: angry, wax

angry young man

a young man who feels and expresses anger at the conventional values of the society around him.

Originally, this term referred to a member of a group of socially conscious writers in Britain in the 1950s, in particular the playwright John Osborne. The phrase, the title of a book ( 1951 ) by Leslie Paul , was used of Osborne in the publicity material for his play Look Back in Anger ( 1956 ), in which the characteristic views of the angry young men were articulated by the anti-hero Jimmy Porter .

See also: angry, man, young