on a/the rampage
on a/the rampage
Violently excited; furious. This term appears to have come from the Old Scots verb to ramp, meaning “to storm and rage.” The current cliché was known in the mid-nineteenth century. Dickens used it in Great Expectations (1861), in which Joe Gargery tells the hero, “On the Rampage, Pip, and Off the Rampage, Pip; such is Life!”
See also: on, rampage
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
- blow to smithereens
- blow(n) to smithereens
- blow, smash, etc. something to smithereens
- smithereen
- ye olde
- be careful what you wish for(, it might (just) come true)
- pobody's nerfect
- do not try this at home
- a sight to behold
- be all Greek to someone