"set one's hair on fire" meaning in All languages combined

See set one's hair on fire on Wiktionary

Verb [English]

Audio: En-au-set one's hair on fire.ogg Forms: sets one's hair on fire [present, singular, third-person], setting one's hair on fire [participle, present], set one's hair on fire [participle, past], set one's hair on fire [past]
Etymology: Possibly from stories of Viking marauders said to have set their hair and beards on fire when running into battle in order to appear fanatical and fearsome. Head templates: {{en-verb|set<,,set> one's hair on fire}} set one's hair on fire (third-person singular simple present sets one's hair on fire, present participle setting one's hair on fire, simple past and past participle set one's hair on fire)
  1. (idiomatic) To become wildly impassioned; to behave crazily. Tags: idiomatic Synonyms: freak out, lose it, light one's hair on fire, run around with one's hair on fire Derived forms: hair-on-fire [adjective]
    Sense id: en-set_one's_hair_on_fire-en-verb-U7A0ceUl Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English light verb constructions, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "etymology_text": "Possibly from stories of Viking marauders said to have set their hair and beards on fire when running into battle in order to appear fanatical and fearsome.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "sets one's hair on fire",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "setting one's hair on fire",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "set one's hair on fire",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "set one's hair on fire",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "set<,,set> one's hair on fire"
      },
      "expansion": "set one's hair on fire (third-person singular simple present sets one's hair on fire, present participle setting one's hair on fire, simple past and past participle set one's hair on fire)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English light verb constructions",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "derived": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "adjective"
          ],
          "word": "hair-on-fire"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2009 March 31, Vanessa Ho, “Study: Seattle home for alcoholics saved taxpayers $4 million”, in Seattle Post-Intelligencer, retrieved 2017-09-22:",
          "text": "\"It was perceived that we were opening a party house where people could drink and run amok and generally set their hair on fire,\" said Bill Hobson, executive director of the Downtown Emergency Service Center.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012 April 5, Allen Garr, “Blaming Chinese for high house prices in Vancouver is racist”, in Vancouver Courier, Canada, retrieved 2017-09-22:",
          "text": "[T]he problem is the extreme shortage of affordable housing. You can do as the city has decided to do, which is set up a task force to deal with affordable housing. . . . Or you can set your hair on fire and blame Chinese foreigners.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2017 May 23, David Brooks, “Opinion: The Alienated Mind”, in New York Times, retrieved 2017-09-22:",
          "text": "As the impeachment investigation proceeds, it’ll be important for us Trump critics to not set our hair on fire every day, to evaluate the evidence as if it were against a president we ourselves voted for.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2017 September 19, Heather Mallick, “Trump sets his hair on fire at the UN”, in The Star, Canada, retrieved 2017-09-22:",
          "text": "It is difficult to sum up the speech, despite having taken notes while watching on three screens, because the whammos, the bone chips and viscera, came at us faster than they could be wiped away.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To become wildly impassioned; to behave crazily."
      ],
      "id": "en-set_one's_hair_on_fire-en-verb-U7A0ceUl",
      "links": [
        [
          "impassioned",
          "impassioned"
        ],
        [
          "crazily",
          "crazily"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To become wildly impassioned; to behave crazily."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "freak out"
        },
        {
          "word": "lose it"
        },
        {
          "word": "light one's hair on fire"
        },
        {
          "word": "run around with one's hair on fire"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-set one's hair on fire.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/f/f8/En-au-set_one%27s_hair_on_fire.ogg/En-au-set_one%27s_hair_on_fire.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/En-au-set_one%27s_hair_on_fire.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "set one's hair on fire"
}
{
  "derived": [
    {
      "tags": [
        "adjective"
      ],
      "word": "hair-on-fire"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Possibly from stories of Viking marauders said to have set their hair and beards on fire when running into battle in order to appear fanatical and fearsome.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "sets one's hair on fire",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "setting one's hair on fire",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "set one's hair on fire",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "set one's hair on fire",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "set<,,set> one's hair on fire"
      },
      "expansion": "set one's hair on fire (third-person singular simple present sets one's hair on fire, present participle setting one's hair on fire, simple past and past participle set one's hair on fire)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English light verb constructions",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2009 March 31, Vanessa Ho, “Study: Seattle home for alcoholics saved taxpayers $4 million”, in Seattle Post-Intelligencer, retrieved 2017-09-22:",
          "text": "\"It was perceived that we were opening a party house where people could drink and run amok and generally set their hair on fire,\" said Bill Hobson, executive director of the Downtown Emergency Service Center.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012 April 5, Allen Garr, “Blaming Chinese for high house prices in Vancouver is racist”, in Vancouver Courier, Canada, retrieved 2017-09-22:",
          "text": "[T]he problem is the extreme shortage of affordable housing. You can do as the city has decided to do, which is set up a task force to deal with affordable housing. . . . Or you can set your hair on fire and blame Chinese foreigners.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2017 May 23, David Brooks, “Opinion: The Alienated Mind”, in New York Times, retrieved 2017-09-22:",
          "text": "As the impeachment investigation proceeds, it’ll be important for us Trump critics to not set our hair on fire every day, to evaluate the evidence as if it were against a president we ourselves voted for.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2017 September 19, Heather Mallick, “Trump sets his hair on fire at the UN”, in The Star, Canada, retrieved 2017-09-22:",
          "text": "It is difficult to sum up the speech, despite having taken notes while watching on three screens, because the whammos, the bone chips and viscera, came at us faster than they could be wiped away.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To become wildly impassioned; to behave crazily."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "impassioned",
          "impassioned"
        ],
        [
          "crazily",
          "crazily"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To become wildly impassioned; to behave crazily."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-set one's hair on fire.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/f/f8/En-au-set_one%27s_hair_on_fire.ogg/En-au-set_one%27s_hair_on_fire.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/En-au-set_one%27s_hair_on_fire.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "freak out"
    },
    {
      "word": "lose it"
    },
    {
      "word": "light one's hair on fire"
    },
    {
      "word": "run around with one's hair on fire"
    }
  ],
  "word": "set one's hair on fire"
}

Download raw JSONL data for set one's hair on fire meaning in All languages combined (3.3kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-15 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (8a39820 and 4401a4c). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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