Language: en
Meaning: (idiomatic)Used to describe theresponseto someone who is either experiencing greatpain, who is veryfrightened, or is veryelated.1979,A History of Cancer Control in the United States, 1946-1971:He would come over to my office at least once a week and explode because somebody had been after him. And I wouldscrape him off the ceilingand send him back until the next week.1983, Michael Skinner,USAFE, a primer of modern air combat in Europe, page 8:Occasionally, however, they will get a real thriller, and when the horn goes off at a particularly suspenseful point, they say you canscrape the pilots off the ceiling.1992, Jasmine Cresswell,Nowhere to Hide, page200:Do you think you couldscrape yourself off the ceilinglong enough for us to get some sleep?2001, G.C. Rosenquist,The Opening And Closing Of The Moon, page 9:It made my inner self so excited I had to think of baseball or they'd bescraping me off the ceiling.2007, James Kirkwood,P.S. Your Cat Is Dead:No, you'd have toscrape me off the ceiling.2007,Harvard Business School Alumni Bulletin:I spoke with Kip the other day, and you couldscrape him off the ceilingwith the obvious pride and excitement he shares with Kinsley.2011, John White,Parents in Pain, page64:Barbara Johnson of Melodyland wrote to me about her Spatula Club. "You need a bit of humor. Parents have to bescraped off the ceilingwhen they first find out. So we make these little spatulas. . . . "2012, Dr. Brian La Trobe,Of Diamonds and Dentistry, page368:Expose a pulp or so called “nerve” of an adult tooth accidently,[sic]without an anaesthetic, and you will have toscrape your patient off the ceiling.2018,Written Off, page Paul Carroll:Chapman, you could havescraped me off the ceiling.
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