Meaning of on a tear | Babel Free

Definitions

1. Engaged in a continuous, fast-paced procession of actions or events, especially with favorable results.
   idiomatic
2. In or into a protracted state of agitation, fury, or zeal.
   idiomatic
3. Binge drinking; engaged in a bout of heavy consumption of alcoholic beverages; on a bender.
   idiomatic

Examples

“[T]he team was on a tear, having laid waste to three early round tournament opponents by a total victory margin of 82 points.”

“To say he went on a tear after turning professional would be an understatement. He went fourteen fights without tasting defeat.”

“[T]he market has been on a tear for more than six years and continues to trade near record highs.”

“Congress has been hopping mad and the U.N.-haters have been on a tear.”

“[W]hen the gay activist and playwright Larry Kramer goes on a tear, when he really lays into somebody about being politically lazy or not wearing a condom,. . . [y]ou hear rage.”

“The man I want to tell you about, the one I met at the bar at Jimmy's Steak House, was on a tear. Hardly surprising, since this was a bar, after all, and what do people do at bars except drink, and one drink leads to another -- and if you're in a certain frame of mind, I suppose, you don't stop for a day or two or maybe more.”

“That Kelly, when he goes on a tear, he don't wait for the bars to open.”

CEFR level