To completely lose it — either in wild excitement or full-scale rage. Go ape captures that moment when someone abandons all pretense of composed human behavior and goes full primal: jumping around with joy, screaming with enthusiasm, or erupting in fury depending on the context. The phrase evokes the uninhibited physicality of a primate let loose, and it works perfectly for describing fans at a concert, parents at a kid's game, or anyone pushed past their limit.
The crowd went ape when the band came back for an encore nobody expected — it was absolute chaos.
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(slang) To become wildly excited or enthusiastic.
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(slang) To become very angry.
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Regional slang from around the English-speaking world — British, Australian, Irish, Caribbean, Nigerian, Filipino, AAVE, and the hyphenated-English dialects that make the internet sound local.
See all Regional & Other slang on Slangora.