tear into v.
1. (also tear in) to throw oneself enthusiastically into a task.
Ragged Trousered Philanthropists (1955) 217: It was therefore in the hope of being one of the favoured few that while inwardly cursing the rest for ‘tearing into it,’ everyone as a matter of self-preservation went and ‘tore into it’ themselves. | ||
Buck Parvin 28: You tear in and save the lady. | ‘The Extra Man’ in||
Living (1978) 254: ‘Yessir’ foreman said ‘they’re tearing into it.’. | ||
Runyon on Broadway (1954) 297: The little doll tears into it very enthusiastically, using both hands. | ‘Little Miss Marker’ in||
(con. 1940s) Gun in My Hand 92: Mugs up men. Get amongst it. Tear into the good stuff. | ||
Don’t Point That Thing at Me (1991) 27: We all three [...] tore into an enormous fry-up. | ||
Mud Crab Boogie (2013) [ebook] Warren and Debbie were [...] pulling cones from a bong on the coffee table while they tore into about a gallon of vodka. | ||
Powder 81: The Grams tore into their set with deranged energy. | ||
Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. |
2. to attack physically, or verbally.
Valley of the Moon (1914) 35: Hurray for the old lady! Look at her tearin’ into ’em! | ||
Classics in Sl. 28: He won’t rest ’til Hamlet has tore into said uncle and made him like it, for revenge. | ||
Jack-Roller 125: He tore into me for calling him ‘nigger.’. | ||
Never Come Morning (1988) 55: The way you looked when you tore into Poor Charlie! | ||
Jimmy Brockett 277: Make it strong, brother. I don’t care how much ginger you put into it. Tear it into Regan. | ||
Return of the Hood 41: Penny tore into old Rudy Max and broke him up for not paying protection. | ||
You Flash Bastard 69: Every villain and piece of scum who ever got a living from crime can, whenever he’s nicked, tear into the most practical, hardest working copper. | ||
Traveller’s Tool 35: We were tearing into each other like a pair of blue-tongued lizards. | ||
Smiling in Slow Motion (2000) 208: They were venomously tearing into two pretty boys sitting across the restaurant. | diary 29 Aug.||
Cartoon City 40: He expected Lucy to tear into him. Instead he was pleasantly surprised when she came up and kissed him on the cheek. | ||
April Dead 22: [B]lissfully unaware of what was going to happen to him in the morning [...] and Mary got torn into him properly. |
In phrases
(Scot.) to fight vigorously; to commit oneself wholeheartedly.
McAuslan in the Rough 11: Him an’ his mates, they wis inna Foreign Legion, inna fort [...] an’ the wogs wis gettin’ tore in. | ||
Bloody January 74: They squeezed in at the bar between [...] couple of soldiers getting torn into it. |