blow a fuse

English

Pronunciation

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Verb

blow a fuse (third-person singular simple present blows a fuse, present participle blowing a fuse, simple past blew a fuse, past participle blown a fuse)

1. (electricity) To overload a circuit sufficiently that a fuse protecting it melts away (or informally a circuit breaker trips), stopping current from flowing.
2. (idiomatic, informal) To lose one's temper; to become enraged.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:lose one's temper

   When he learned that his daughter had eloped, he blew a fuse.

Translations

to cause an electrical circuit to break open by overloading it

• French: faire sauter les plombs

to lose one's temper

• French: péter les plombs (fr)