fly off the handle
To become very angry or enragedTo become very angry or enraged; to throw a fit or go crazy.
Meaning
1 senses(colloquial, idiomatic)To become very angry or enraged; to throw a fit or go crazy.
My dad flew off the handle when he saw the F grade on my report card.
aus der Haut fahren
- get very angry and fly into a rage
Examples
11 sentencesDon't fly off the handle.
ruНе выходи из себя. — marafon
When he found out, he was flying off the handle.
Sami was violent and he would easily fly off the handle.
He flies off the handle at the drop of a hat.
Sami flew off the handle.
Translations
5 languagesBy meaning 1
Origin
From the image of an axe head becoming loose and suddenly flying free of its handle, a vivFrom the image of an axe head becoming loose and suddenly flying free of its handle, a vivid metaphor for losing control. The phrase is an early 19th-century American idiom, with printed examples first appearing c. the 1810s–1830s.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
flies off the handle, flying off the handle, flew off the handle, flown off the handle| Base form | fly off the handle · to fly off the handle |
|---|---|
| 3rd person singular | flies off the handle |
| Present participle | flying off the handle |
| Past simple | flew off the handle |
| Past participle | flown off the handle |
irregular · Lesson
Synonyms
13 synonyms- get very angry and fly into a rage:flip one's lidblow upthrow a fithit the roofhit the ceilinghave kittenshave a fitcombust
Lessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, irregular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.