This one is pretty easy to figure out, it alludes to the uncontrolled way a loose axe-head flies off from its handle. It is first found in print in Thomas C. Haliburton's The Attaché; or, Sam Slick in England, 1843/4:
"He flies right off the handle for nothing."
Haliburton was an inventive writer and had a hand in the coining of several commonly used phrases:
Ginger up
Won't take no for an answer
Today it means the same thing except in a figurative way - it means to lose control.
Comments
Post a Comment