hit the roof

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

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Verb

hit the roof (third-person singular simple present hits the roof, present participle hitting the roof, simple past and past participle hit the roof)

1. (idiomatic) To be explosively angry; to lose one's temper.

   Synonyms: hit the ceiling, go ballistic, blow one's top, flip out, go ape, go apeshit, lose it, lose one's rag, pop one's cork

   When he found out I wrecked his brand-new car, he hit the roof.

   • 1981, Stan Rogers (lyrics and music), “Night Guard”, in Northwest Passage:

     Half a year of profits gone and now there's hell to pay / The cops say they know who, but there's no proof / The banker hit the roof / and damn near took the car.

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see hit,‎ the,‎ roof.
   • 2009, Alan Gratz, The Brooklyn Nine: A Novel in Nine Innings, Speak, Penguin Group, published 2010, →ISBN, page 268:

     Snider’s dad slipped. He hit the roof with a thump, letting go of Snider to throw his arms out and catch himself.

Translations

To be explosively angry

• Finnish: hypätä kattoon
• French: sortir de ses gonds (fr)
• Italian: perdere le staffe
• Swedish: gå i taket (sv), få spel
• Walloon: potchî foû d' ses bagues (wa), potchî foû d' ses clicotes (wa)

See also

• scrape someone off the ceiling