blow a gasket
Meaning: To lose one's temper completely.
Language: English
Literally: (Already vivid in English)
Example: “Dad blew a gasket when he saw the phone bill.”
Category: The Absurd
Origin: A gasket is a seal in an engine; when it fails under pressure, the engine overheats. The figurative use dates from the mid-20th century, in American English.
Equivalents in other languages
- French: Péter une durite — literally: To burst a hose
- French: Péter les plombs — literally: To blow the fuses
More idioms — The Absurd
- Ariadne's thread — Something that guides one through a complicated problem.
- hey presto — Said when something happens suddenly, as if by magic.
- the eighth wonder of the world — Something extraordinary, often said ironically.
- scream blue murder — To protest very loudly.
- a Procrustean bed — A rigid standard forced on everything, whatever the damage.
- a Sisyphean task — An endless, futile task.
More English idioms
- hearts and flowers — Excessive sentimentality.
- play hooky — To skip school or work without permission.
- sing someone's praises — To praise someone enthusiastically.
- grasp all, lose all — If you try to get too much, you may end up with nothing.
- the power behind the throne — Someone with no official title who secretly controls a leader.
- born in a trunk — Raised in a family of traveling performers and in the business from childhood.
From our tongue twisters
- The sixth sick sheikh's sixth sheep's sick. — Believed by Guinness to be among the hardest in English — 'six/sick/sheikh/sheep' blur in…
- Betty Botter bought some butter, but she said the butter's bitter. — A 'b / t / tt' plosive drill that bounces between Betty, butter, and bitter.
- She sells seashells by the seashore. — The definitive 's' versus 'sh' alternation — the tongue has to switch place of articulati…