mouton enragé

First attested in 1826. Borrowed from French mouton enragé, a nickname given to French politician Nicolas de Condorcet by Turgot, from mouton (“sheep”) + enragé, past participle of enrager (“to enrage”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌmuːtɒn ˌɒnɹæˈʒeɪ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmu.tɑ̃ ɑ̃.ɹɹɑˈʒeɪ/

• Audio (US)

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mouton enragé (plural moutons enragés)

1. A normally peaceful person who has become suddenly and uncharacteristically angry.

   Remember not to enter the monastery; those monks can be real moutons enragés.

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:mouton enragé.

• 1999, Ed. Jennifer Speake, The Oxford Essential Dictionary of Foreign Terms in English, Oxford University Press, →ISBN
• Notes to Marius Chastaing (July 1832) "Lyon. Défense de la Mercuriale.", L'Écho de la Fabrique.
• “mouton enragé, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, July 2023.