go off the handle

verb

To die.

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Meanings

verbgo off the handle (third-person singular simple present goes off the handle, present participle going off the handle, simple past went off the handle, past participle gone off the handle)

present singular third person goes off the handle · participle present going off the handle · past went off the handle · participle past gone off the handle

  1. colloquialTo die.

    “Pansay went off the handle,” says Heatherlegh, “after the stimulus of long leave at Home.”

    1888, Rudyard Kipling, “The Phantom Rickshaw”, in The Phantom 'Rickshaw and Other Tales, Allahabad: A.H. Wheeler and Co., page 8
    1 more example

    But the end came - the old fellow held on toughly; he never died until Lev's patience, hope and slender income were quite threadbare; so at last he went off the handle - Lev buried him and mourned the dispensation in true Kilkenny fashion.

    1856, Jonathan F. Kelley, “Nursing a Legacy”, in The Humors of Falconbridge, Philadelphia: T.B. Peterson, page 374
Cite this entry
APA

go off the handle. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/go%20off%20the%20handle

MLA

“go off the handle.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/go%20off%20the%20handle. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “go off the handle,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/go%20off%20the%20handle.

Source: go off the handle on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.