[W]hen the gay activist and playwright Larry Kramer goes on a tear, when he really lays into somebody about being politically lazy or not wearing a condom,. . . [y]ou hear rage.
2013, T. C. Boyle, T.C. Boyle Stories II: The Collected Stories of T. Coraghessan Boyle, →ISBN:
The man I want to tell you about, the one I met at the bar at Jimmy's Steak House, was on a tear. Hardly surprising, since this was a bar, after all, and what do people do at bars except drink, and one drink leads to another -- and if you're in a certain frame of mind, I suppose, you don't stop for a day or two or maybe more.
1998, Dana Stabenow, Fire and Ice, page 77:
That Kelly, when he goes on a tear, he don't wait for the bars to open.
Usage notes
In the sense of "engaged in a fast-paced procession of actions", often used with reference to a series of successes in sportingcompetitions.