rage

Etymology

From Middle English, borrowed through Anglo-Norman rage, from Late Latin rabia, from Classical Latin rabiēs (“anger, fury”). Doublet of rabies. Displaced native Old English hātheortnes (“rage”) and Old English wēdan (“to rage”).

noun

1. Violent uncontrolled anger.
2. A current fashion or fad.
   Miniskirts were all the rage back then.
   But the rage of travelling is a symptom of a deeper unsoundness affecting the whole intellectual action. 1841, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance”, in Essays: First Series
   This rage for boulevardizing has destroyed the quaint, queer, pestilential streets of old Paris, through which it was our pleasure to wander many years since. 1864, Samuel Greatheed, Daniel Parken, Theophilus Williams, The Eclectic Review (volume 7? volume 120? page 130)
3. (slang, US, Australia, New Zealand) An exciting and boisterous party.
   That evening, Felix and Trish Homer invited me to the Sundancer for "a bit of a rage." 2013, Larry M. Edwards, Dare I Call It Murder?: A Memoir of Violent Loss, San Diego, C.A.: Wigeon Publishing, page 95
4. (obsolete) Any vehement passion.

verb

1. (intransitive) To act or speak in heightened anger.
   When a Muslim politician held a 50th birthday party, he [Zaharan Hashim] raged about how Western infidel traditions were poisoning his hometown, Kattankudy. 25 April 2019, Hannah Beech, “Sri Lankan Accused of Leading Attacks Preached Slaughter. Many Dismissed Him.”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-01-24
2. (sometimes figurative) To move with great violence, as a storm etc.
   The desert storm was riding in its strength; the travellers lay beneath the mastery of the fell simoom.[…]Roaring, leaping, pouncing, the tempest raged about the wanderers, drowning and blotting out their forms with sandy spume. 1892, James Yoxall, chapter 5, in The Lonely Pyramid
   Though the storm raged up the East Coast, it has become increasingly apparent that New Jersey took the brunt of it. 1 November 2012, David M. Halbfinger, “New Jersey Continues to Cope With Hurricane Sandy”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-04-04
   Debate has raged over whether Glass and smartglasses like it have any viable real-world use cases for consumers, or are more interesting to businesses where workers need hands-free access to information. 24 June 2014, Samuel Gibbs, “Google Glass go on sale in the UK for £1,000”, in The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-10-24
   As the storm raged, more than 85 million people—or more than one in every four Americans—were covered by some kind of blizzard or winter-storm advisory on Friday, according to weather.com. 25 January 2016, Marina Koren, “The East Coast Digs Out”, in The Atlantic, Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2021-07-24
3. (slang, US, Australia, New Zealand) To party hard; to have a good time.
   These events are all about raging hard, getting as fucked up as you can. Not necessarily even about dancing, just being a face in this giant extravaganza. 2 August 2012, Simon Reynolds, quoting Nathan Messer, “How rave music conquered America”, in The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-02-13
4. (obsolete, rare) To enrage.