up in arms
25
6.1
- idiom
:
indignado
- After the controversial decision to close the local school, parents were up in arms and demanded a meeting with officials.
Like I don't understand why people are not up in arms over that.
- Like I don't understand why people are not up in arms over that.
- It always baffles me when I see people get up in arms about someone telling a lie.
- And this has got a lot of people up in arms entirely unnecessarily I would say.
- And the students got up in arms and the administration back down and, and sacked him.
- And everyone on Twitter and all across news articles has just been up in arms about it.
- Like we should have been notified and everybody's all up in arms and angry and basically things are starting to implode.
- It is unbelievable to me that people are not up in arms about this and all of his Republican enablers are just letting it go.
- Everyone was up in arms about this and blaming these guys and saying that they were getting away with murdering Iraqi civilians.
- So, you know, we was a really up in arms about that.
- Europeans, I can assure you, are up in arms that for them they never heard of this.
- OK, so then the third scandalous part I guess is why everyone's up in arms is no, she also had a fiance.
Examples
-
Lately, people have been getting up in arms about homeless people and poor people who have cell phones.
Blog text (7) -
Residents are up in arms about the new tax increase, organizing protests throughout the city.
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The whole city is up in arms.
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Community leaders are up in arms...
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- People are up in arms, speaking out against what they believe...
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And everyone on Twitter and all across news articles has just been up in arms about it.
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Everyone in Philadelphia was up in arms about it.
Fiction book (1994) -
I do understand why everyone is up in arms about his policies and his secular socialist ways.
Blog text (14) -
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is up in arms over a comment.
Blog text (1) -
But talk of raising water levels and creating buffer zones has local farmers up in arms.
Academic text (1994)
Synonyms
27
4.1
Feeling very angry and shocked because something seems unfair
23
5.3
Very angry and showing it
8
5.3
Very noisy and upset because people are angry or worried
1
4.5
Feeling very angry because someone treated you unfairly
Very angry because of something unfair or wrong
Very angry and likely to act violently
Antonyms
How Angry
Surface Forms
Morphology
The components suggest a metaphorical source: 'arms' (weapons) plus 'up in' (ready/uprised) yields the image of people ready to take up weapons, which can be extended to being angry and ready to protest. This requires a historical/metaphorical inference beyond simple composition, so a B1 learner knowing the words would only partially predict the idiomatic meaning.
Etymology
Up in arms may come from the image of people who are up with their arms raised, ready to fight or protest. So, it now means 'angry and actively protesting'.