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foam at the mouth
foam at the mouth
1. Lit. to create froth or foam around the mouth, as with some diseases. The poor dog was foaming at the mouth and looked quite dangerous. What does it mean when a cow foams at the mouth?
2. Fig. to be extraordinarily angry. She was almost foaming at the mouth when she heard about the cost of the car repairs. Walter was foaming at the mouth with rage.
foam at the mouth
1. to be uncontrollably excited The band's high-energy music left the crowd foaming at the mouth for more.
2. to be uncontrollably angry And there was my mom, still foaming at the mouth, still shouting at my brother.
Etymology: based on the literal meaning of foam at the mouth (to have an illness that causes liquid and bubbles to collect around the mouth)
foam at the mouth
Be extremely angry, as in She was foaming at the mouth over the judge's ruling. This hyperbolic term uses the verb foam in the sense of "froth at the mouth," a usage generally applied to animals such as horses and dating from about a.d. 950. [1400s]