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
See also:
  • 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