rage

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air rage

Sudden, unruly, and often violently aggressive behavior of a passenger aboard an airplane, generally while in the air, which puts the safety of other passengers, the crew, or the airplane at risk. The term is modeled on "road rage," which is the equivalent behavior in relation to driving. Airline crews are trained to diffuse incidents of air rage, which often start as minor disputes between passengers.

all the rage

slang Very popular. Disco music was all the rage in the 1970s. I can't believe that stupid dance is all the rage right now.

See also: all, rage

be all the rage

slang Of a thing or trend, to be very popular. Disco music was all the rage in the 1970s. I can't believe that stupid dance is all the rage right now.

See also: all, rage

boil with (an emotion)

To express or feel an emotion, typically anger, very intensely. Things are often tense between my mom and my aunt, so when they had to spend days together on our family vacation, they were soon boiling with anger. When I saw that someone had backed into my new car, I immediately boiled with rage.

bristle with rage

To show sudden anger. I bristled with rage when I saw that someone had hit my car overnight.

fly into a rage

To become uncontrollably angry; to lose control of one's temper. Samantha flew into a rage when she heard that her brother would be getting the family's old car. I know you're upset, but there's no point flying into a rage like that. It was just an honest mistake.

fly into a temper

To become uncontrollably angry; to lose control of one's temper. Samantha flew into a temper when she heard that her brother would be getting the family's old car. I know you're upset, but there's no point flying into a temper like that. It was just an honest mistake.

in a rage

Furious; very angry. I'd steer clear of dad right now—he's in a rage because of some problem at work. I can't stand sitting in traffic, it totally gets me in a rage.

See also: rage

in a towering rage

Extremely, viciously angry. I'd steer clear of the boss right now—he's in a towering rage over that shipping error. Dad was in a towering rage because of what happened. I've never seen him that angry before!

rage against (someone or something)

To protest, criticize, or vent angrily about someone or something. I spent a lot of my teenage years raging against my parents, but looking back, I gave them way more grief than they deserved. Employees has formed a picket line outside of the company as they rage against proposed cuts to their pay and pension schemes.

See also: rage

rage at (someone or something)

To vent one's intense anger or frustration directly at someone or something, whether or not they are the cause of it. Humiliated by his lowly position and poor treatment at work, Tom began raging at his family every evening when he got home. Raging at the dog for pooping on the carpet isn't going to solve anything, Sarah.

See also: rage

rage out of control

1. To become so furious as to lose control of one's own thoughts or actions. He raged out of control after learning about his daughter's death.

2. To grow and intensify to a huge, destructive, and uncontrollable degree The wildfire has been raging out of control for the past three days. Debate around this issue has been raging out of control throughout this election.

rage over (something)

1. To become furious about something. He sat there raging over the fact that he'd been passed over for the promotion.

2. Of an argument, fight, debate, controversy, etc., to continue with fierce and unabating intensity. A debate has been raging over who should benefit most from a government tax cut. Controversy continues to rage over pictures of prison guard physically assaulting inmates.

rage through (something)

1. To move through some place or thing in a fit of furious anger. The boss raged through the office after hearing about the dismal sales numbers from last quarter. I always knew to avoid my father when he raged through the house in one of his drunken stupors.

2. To spread through some region or area with great intensity and destructive force. A huge storm has been raging through the Pacific Northwest for the last week. The deadly wildfire continues to rage through Northern California.

3. Of an argument, fight, debate, controversy, etc., to spread through some place or thing with fierce and unabating intensity. A debate has been raging through our office right now about who the best football player of all time is. Controversy continues to rage through the country over the proposed legislation.

rage uncontrollably

1. To become so furious as to lose control of one's own thoughts or actions. He raged uncontrollably after learning about his daughter's death.

2. To grow and intensify to a huge and uncontrollable degree The wildfire has been raging uncontrollably for the past three days. Debate around this issue has been raging uncontrollably throughout this election.

See also: rage

road rage

Sudden, unruly, and often violently aggressive behavior exhibited while one drives an automobile. You've got a serious problem with road rage, Tom. It's not normal to scream and shout like that just because the person ahead of you is driving a little bit too slow.

the rage

slang That which is currently very popular or trendy. It's really weird how big bushy beards have suddenly become the rage with young men in this country. That stupid song might be the rage right now, but give it a year and no one will even remember what it's called.

See also: rage

all the rage

Fig. in current fashion; being a current fad. A new dance called the "floppy disc" is all the rage. Wearing a rope instead of a belt was all the rage in those days.

See also: all, rage

bristle with rage

and bristle with anger; bristle with indignation

Fig. to demonstrate one's anger, rage, or displeasure with a strong negative response. (Alludes to a dog or cat raising the hair on its back in anger or as a threat.) She was just bristling with anger. I don't know what set her off. Walter bristled with rage as he saw the damage to his new car.

fly into a rage

Fig. to become enraged suddenly. When he heard the report, he flew into a rage. We were afraid that she would fly into a rage.

rage against someone or something

to vent one's anger about someone or something; to criticize someone or something severely. She exhausted herself raging against Judy. Mary is raging about the office politics again.

See also: rage

rage at someone or something

to direct one's anger at someone or something. Why are you raging at me? What on earth did I do? Nothing can be solved by raging at the police department.

See also: rage

rage out of control

to become uncontrollable. The fire raged out of control and threatened the residential area. If we didn't do something quickly, the fire would be raging out of control.

rage over someone or something

to fight furiously over someone or something. The two managers both wanted to hire the same prospective employee. They raged over her for nearly an hour. The bean raged over that one fish for a long time.

rage through something

1. Lit. [for a fire] to burn rapidly through an area or a building. The fire raged through the unoccupied building. When the fire began to rage through the forest, we knew we had better head for the river.

2. Fig. [for someone] to move rapidly through some sequence or process, as if in a rage. Harry raged through the contract, looking for more errors. She raged through the book, angry with everything she read.

all the rage

Also, all the thing. The current or latest fashion, with the implication that it will be short-lived, as in In the 1940s the lindy-hop was all the rage. The use of rage reflects the transfer of an angry passion to an enthusiastic one; thing is vaguer. [Late 1700s] These terms are heard less often today than the synonym the thing.

See also: all, rage

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.

all the rage

INFORMAL

If something is all the rage, it is very popular and fashionable. The 1950s look is all the rage at the moment. He wore a strange outfit which might have been all the rage when Dickens was busy scribbling. Note: You can also just say that something is the rage. This style of sleeve became the rage.

See also: all, rage

all the rage

very popular or fashionable.

Rage is used here in the sense of a widespread (and often temporary) enthusiasm or fashion.

1998 New Scientist The weather people call this repetition ‘ensemble forecasting’, and it has been all the rage since an unexpected storm blew in late one evening and ripped through southern Britain in October 1987 .

See also: all, rage

fly into a ˈrage, ˈtemper, etc.

suddenly become very angry: She flies into a rage every time anybody suggests that she should stop working so hard.

all the ˈrage

(informal) very popular or fashionable: Short hair is all the rage at the moment. OPPOSITE: old hat

See also: all, rage

rage against

To protest something angrily or violently: The marching protestors were raging against the new taxes.

See also: rage

rage at

To express or direct strong anger toward someone or something: The sergeant raged at the troops for falling behind the rest of the platoon.

See also: rage

the rage

n. the current fad; an irresistible fad. (Often with all the. Old but recurrent.) One rage after another. Can’t I find something that will stay the same for a while?

See also: rage

rage

in. to party; to celebrate. (Collegiate.) Fred and Mary were raging over at the frat house last weekend.

road rage

Extreme anger at another automobile driver, resulting in dangerous maneuvers. The term has been applied to such extreme situations as one driver shooting another because he or she has not allowed him to pass. Indeed, it originated at a Los Angeles news station in 1987–88, describing a number of shootings on nearby freeways. A Denver Post headline read: “Road-rage Killer Unrepentant” as he was sentenced to two consecutive life terms (April 17, 2007). In Michael Genelin’s The Magician’s Accomplice (2010), a driver deliberately tried to run a woman over, even though “What had happened did not suggest she had done something on her bike which had propelled a driver into an episode of road rage.”

towering rage, in a

Extremely angry. Towering has been used in the sense of rising to a pitch of violence or intensity since Shakespeare’s time. Shakespeare wrote, “The brauery of his griefe did put me into a towring passion” (Hamlet, 5.2). The precise modern locution appeared in William Black’s Green Pastures and Piccadilly (1877), “He came down in a towering rage.” It may now be obsolescent.