Go Off The Deep End

Meaning of Idiom ‘To Go Off the Deep End’

To go off the deep end is to become extremely upset and unable to control your emotional reaction; to be angry and irrational; to be carried away by emotion, especially anger and to react irrationally. ¹,²

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Examples Of Use

“Morrison, after losing his job and his wife in the same week, went off the deep end and started drinking day and night.”

“I can’t be around Vic anymore. The slightest little thing and he goes off the deep end.”

Origin

Used since the 1920’s, the idiom alludes to the deep end of a swimming pool. ³

More Idioms Starting with F

• Fight Like Cats and Dogs
• From Your Lips to God’s Ears
• Fox Guarding the Henhouse
• Friends in High Places
• Flat Broke

More Deep Idioms

More End Idioms

• Dead End
• The Bitter End, to (until)
• Odds and Ends
• No End In Sight (to something)
• Never Hear the End of It

More Go Idioms

• Go Over the Same Old Ground
• Go Bad
• Go Belly Up
• Go Whole Hog
• Go For Broke

More Off Idioms

• Tick Off
• Ticked Off
• Blow the Lid Off (something)
• Go Off Half-Cocked
• Run Away With (something)

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References

1. Heacock, Paul. Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2010.
2. Ammer, Christine. American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013.
3. Ammer, Christine. American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013.