vent one's spleen
to release one's anger by shouting and screaming
TRANSLATION
vent one's spleen = Dampf ablassen, seinen Ärger an jemandem auslassen, seinen Ärger Luft machen --- GOOGLE INDEX vent one's spleen: approximately 30,000 hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
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In an outburst at a recent concert, Morrissey VENTED SPLEEN at Oxford University's new animal research laboratory, currently under construction. (BBC News)
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Artists as diverse as Jean Michel Jarre, Eminem and Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich have VENTED THEIR SPLEEN on the topic of music piracy, blaming it for reducing CD sales. (BBC News)
In an outburst at a recent concert, Morrissey VENTED SPLEEN at Oxford University's new animal research laboratory, currently under construction. (BBC News)
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Artists as diverse as Jean Michel Jarre, Eminem and Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich have VENTED THEIR SPLEEN on the topic of music piracy, blaming it for reducing CD sales. (BBC News)
Did you
know?
vent one's spleen
idiom
- to express anger by shouting and screaming at someone
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WORD ORIGIN
The word spleen was borrowed either through the Old French esplen/esplien or directly from the Latin and Greek splen. In Medieval physiology, the spleen (die Milz) was regarded as the source of melancholy feelings and bad tempers.
The adjective splenetic describes someone who is irritable and in a bad mood.
The verb vent, meaning to release or discharge something, stems from the Latin exventus (ex=out + ventus=wind).
Taken together as a phrase, to vent one's spleen is a figure of speech meaning to get rid of one's anger by shouting or screaming at someone in a furious manner.
One of the most famous instances of spleen venting was former Soviet Union President Nikita Khrushchev's 1960 performance at a United Nations conference. Reacting to a speech by a Philippine delegate who charged the Soviet Union with occupying all of Eastern Europe and depriving it of political and civil rights, Khrushchev pulled off his right shoe, stood up and waved it at the Philippine delegate on the other side of the hall and then banged the shoe on the desk.
Another personality famous for venting his spleen is American tennis star John McEnroe, who was known to shout and curse at tennis referees, even at Wimbledon, the world's most gentlemanly tennis tournament. As the British tabloid The Sun wrote in 1979, "He is the most vain, ill-tempered, petulant loudmouth that the game of tennis has ever known."
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SYNONYMS
explode, erupt, blow off steam, blow up, go ballistic, go berserk, go nuclear, let it all out, fly into a rage, have a conniption fit, go into hysterics, go on a rampage, rail at, rant and rave, seethe
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SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation say something like:
"He vented his spleen after having had too much too drink."
idiom
- to express anger by shouting and screaming at someone
---
WORD ORIGIN
The word spleen was borrowed either through the Old French esplen/esplien or directly from the Latin and Greek splen. In Medieval physiology, the spleen (die Milz) was regarded as the source of melancholy feelings and bad tempers.
The adjective splenetic describes someone who is irritable and in a bad mood.
The verb vent, meaning to release or discharge something, stems from the Latin exventus (ex=out + ventus=wind).
Taken together as a phrase, to vent one's spleen is a figure of speech meaning to get rid of one's anger by shouting or screaming at someone in a furious manner.
One of the most famous instances of spleen venting was former Soviet Union President Nikita Khrushchev's 1960 performance at a United Nations conference. Reacting to a speech by a Philippine delegate who charged the Soviet Union with occupying all of Eastern Europe and depriving it of political and civil rights, Khrushchev pulled off his right shoe, stood up and waved it at the Philippine delegate on the other side of the hall and then banged the shoe on the desk.
Another personality famous for venting his spleen is American tennis star John McEnroe, who was known to shout and curse at tennis referees, even at Wimbledon, the world's most gentlemanly tennis tournament. As the British tabloid The Sun wrote in 1979, "He is the most vain, ill-tempered, petulant loudmouth that the game of tennis has ever known."
---
SYNONYMS
explode, erupt, blow off steam, blow up, go ballistic, go berserk, go nuclear, let it all out, fly into a rage, have a conniption fit, go into hysterics, go on a rampage, rail at, rant and rave, seethe
---
SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation say something like:
"He vented his spleen after having had too much too drink."
