scrape someone off the ceiling
verb1
Idiomatic Used to describe the response to someone who is either experiencing great pain, who is very frightened, or is very elated.
- He would come over to my office at least once a week and explode because somebody had been after him. And I would scrape him off the ceiling and send him back until the next week.1979, A History of Cancer Control in the United States, 1946-1971:
- Occasionally, however, they will get a real thriller, and when the horn goes off at a particularly suspenseful point, they say you can scrape the pilots off the ceiling.1983, Michael Skinner, USAFE, a primer of modern air combat in Europe, page 8:
4 more examples
- Do you think you could scrape yourself off the ceiling long enough for us to get some sleep?1992, Jasmine Cresswell, Nowhere to Hide, page 200:
- It made my inner self so excited I had to think of baseball or they'd be scraping me off the ceiling.2001, G.C. Rosenquist, The Opening And Closing Of The Moon, page 9:
- No, you'd have to scrape me off the ceiling.2007, James Kirkwood, P.S. Your Cat Is Dead:
- I spoke with Kip the other day, and you could scrape him off the ceiling with the obvious pride and excitement he shares with Kinsley.2007, Harvard Business School Alumni Bulletin:
- Related terms
- hit the roof