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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

go off the handle en · VERB

Meanings

  1. (colloquial) To die.
    • “Pansay went off the handle,” says Heatherlegh, “after the stimulus of long leave at Home.” 1888, Rudyard Kipling, “The Phantom Rickshaw”, in The Phantom 'Rickshaw and Other Tales, Allahabad: A.H. Wheeler and Co., page 8:
    • But the end came - the old fellow held on toughly; he never died until Lev's patience, hope and slender income were quite threadbare; so at last he went off the handle - Lev buried him and mourned the dispensation in true Kilkenny fashion. 1856, Jonathan F. Kelley, “Nursing a Legacy”, in The Humors of Falconbridge, Philadelphia: T.B. Peterson, page 374:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
going off the handle Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
gone off the handle Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
goes off the handle Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic
went off the handle Tense=Past lexicographic