lose one's rag

lose one’s rag

1. (slang) To become angry.
   • 1928, Ethel May Dell, The Gate Marked "Private", G. P. Putnam's Sons, page 248,

     […] he could not have said wherefore. “She was dressed as a bride if you must know,” he said. “But I don’t know what you’ve got to lose your rag about. She’s nothing to you.”

   • c1934, in Famous Plays of 1933–1934, page 449,

     Doll: Well, I’ll be trotting along. Sorry I lost my rag with […]

   • 1937, Arthur Calder-Marshall, Pie in the Sky, C. Scribner’s sons, page 315,

     […] home now and was I going to come with him or wasn’t I? And I lost my rag and said, no, it was his duty to take me home, not mine to take him.

   • 1944, in William Boyd (Ed.), Evacuation in Scotland: A Record of Events and Experiments, University of London Press, Ltd., page 187,

     There is frankness of discussion and remark. For instance, it is quite usual for a visiting member of the staff to ask, ‘How is your temper these days?’ The reply might be, ‘I haven’t lost my rag for a week,’ which is an achievement.

   • 2006, Louise Rennison, Startled by His Furry Shorts, HarperCollins, →ISBN, page 127–128,

     The last time I went to God’s house, Call-Me-Arnold lost his rag with me. Which is a bit un-Christian. After all, there was no real damage done vis-à-vis the elderly pensioner’s scarf inferno incident.

   • 2007, Patricia Ferguson, Peripheral Vision, Solidus, →ISBN, page 295,

     ‘Come on, everyone loses their rag occasionally. It can’t be that bad. […] ’

   • 2016, Lucy Kellaway on BBC "Business Daily" (April 18)

     E-mail alone didn't make the office passive-aggressive, as we were going that way anyway. It all started a couple of decades ago when the four great forces of modern office life, political correctness, HR, PR, and litigiousness, ruled that it was no longer acceptable to lose your rag.

• Used with with when the anger is directed at a person

  When I told him about the accident, he lost his rag with me.

• Used with about or over when the anger is caused by an event

  There's no need to lose your rag over missing the train!

• blow one's top, go ape, go apeshit, hit the roof, hit the ceiling, lose it, lose one's temper