hair-on-fire

English

Pronunciation

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Adjective

hair-on-fire (not comparable)

1. (idiomatic) Impassioned, wild, crazy, rage-filled, frantic.
   • 2003 September 9, Ben Ratliff, "Music Review: Fluttering Rat-a-tats to Celebrate a Birthday," New York Times (retrieved 22 Sept 2017):

     Almost no singer in rock enunciates better, and he used that skill to make noise: teeth-and-tongue clucking, gut-punch bellows, hair-on-fire shrieking.

   • 2012 August 14, Tom McCarthy, "U.S. Politics: Paul Ryan heads west as convention slate unveiled," Guardian (UK) (retrieved 22 Sept 2017):

     [T]he most common reactions to Ryan ranged from gnawing apprehension to hair-on-fire anger.

   • 2016 December 16, Phil Plait, "Trump Adviser Turns the Anti-Science Up to 11," Slate (retrieved 22 Sept 2017):

     I’ve made something of a career in debunking nonsense when it comes to science, from people who think the Moon landings were faked to hair-on-fire UFOlogists who think every lens flare and dust mote in a photo is the precursor to an alien invasion.

Related terms

• set one's hair on fire