colloq. Also 8–9 tantarum. [Origin unascertained.
(In Wallis’s Room for the Cobbler of Gloucester (1668), 4, tantrum appears as a Welshman’s mispronunciation of anthem, but apparently has no connection with this word.)]
An outburst or display of petulance or ill-temper; a fit of passion. Mostly in pl.
1748. Foote, Knights, II. Wks. 1799, I. 84. None of your fleers!… Your tantrums!—You are grown too headstrong and robust for me.
1754. Shebbeare, Matrimony (1766), I. 122. Where did the Wench get these Tantarums into her Head?
1776. Mrs. Delany, in Life & Corr., Ser. II. (1862), II. 206. Treating him with some contempt when he is in his tantrums.
1824. W. Irving, T. Trav., I. 217. An author, who was always in a tantrum if interrupted.
1837. Disraeli, Venetia, I. vi. He goes into his tantarums at the abbey.
1884. Times, 12 March, 3. The defendant told him not to get into a tantrum.
