Is ‘on (in) a tear’ a popular idiom?

Question

I was drawn to the phrase, ‘on a tear,’ which I heard in audio in this week’s Barron’s magazine (June 6), reporting the good sales and profit performance of U.S. sneaker chain, Foot Locker:

It says:

Foot Locker is proving that expansion isn’t everything. The sneaker chain’s sales per square foot have been on a tear even as the company’s store count shrinks. That‘s done wonders for Foot Locker’s profit margins and stock price.

As I’m unfamiliar with the idiom, ‘on a tear,’ I consulted English dictionaries in both print and online.

The Cambridge, Oxford, and Merriam-Webster English dictionaries and the Oxford American Dictionary do not carry ‘on a tear’ as an idiom. I suspected it could be “in a tier,” but it doesn’t add up in the context.

However, I found ‘on a tear’ in Collins English Dictionary and urban dictionary.

Collins defines ‘on a tear’ as;

(slang) showing a sudden burst of energy. ex. Final domestic demand, then, was on a tear —— good news.

Urban Dictionary defines it as;

on a streak or series, usually a winning streak. Will sometimes be used semi-sarcastically to define a losing streak. ex. The market went up 14% in the least four weeks. The market is on a tear! –

And, Google Ngram shows that the usages of both ‘on a tear’ and ‘in a tear’ have been observed since early before 1840. The incidences of ‘on a tear’ is on rise from 0.000001 in 1970 to 0.0000025 after 2000 and onward, but incidences of 'in a tear' have been flattened out at the low level of 0.0000012 - 0.0000016 throughout the tracked period.

Now here are my questions:

1. What is the plain and exact meaning of ‘on (in) a tear’ in the context of the above quote?
2. Is ‘on (in) a tear’ a popular idiom?
3. Why none of major English dictionaries such as CED, OED, OALED, MWED accommodates this phrase as an idiom in spite of a long presence of the phrase as shown in Google NGram?

Addendum:

The Barrons’ magazine seems to be fond of using "on a tear." It repeated this phrase again in its June 19 news-report (through AFN radio broadcast) reporting a marked improvement of U.S.'s largest closeout chain, Big Lots’ sales performance. It says

(the chain’s) Sales growth in Canada is on a tear. Any signs of the progress will likely allure investors back to Big Lots.

Answer 1

In a tear (or on a tear) does appear in OED:

3b. A spree (U.S. slang).

1896 Harper's Mag. Apr. 775/2 Got me off on a tear somehow, and by the time I was sober again the money was 'most all gone.

and

Draft additions 1993

A spree; in Sport, a successful run, a winning streak; esp. in phr. on a tear. U.S. slang.

The quote may be explained as

Foot Locker is proving that expansion isn’t everything. The sneaker chain’s sales per square foot have been rocketing even as the company’s store count shrinks. That’s done wonders for Foot Locker’s profit margins and stock price.

As to your other questions, the answer is that in a tear in that sense is probably not all that common, which is why it's not included in dictionaries. Google Ngrams may be misleading, because a large number of results will be for the lachrymal tear-stained or for a literal tear (=split, rent).

Answer 2

To pull a part, divide by force. The denotation paints the picture of the connotation: one is ripping through an expected obstacle or opponent which can be to the upside or down. Most often, the usage appears to the upside or in a positive direction.

While the usage may seem as slang, it is just an artful use of a well defined word into a term clearly understood by most.

It is not possible to be in a tear.

Not every common, or common sense, use of a word or term is documented as an idiom. If you catch my drift.

Answer 3

It seems to me that most of these answers are correct to a degree. I became interested in the phrase after coming across it in the folk-song "Mick Maguire". Here is the last verse (or last refrain): Johnny come up to the fire come up you're sitting in the draught/ Can't you see it's ould Maguire and he nearly drives me daft/ Sure I don't know what gets into him and he's always on the tear/ So sit where you are and never you dare, to give ould Maguire the chair

In this context - and the context of the rest of the song - its meaning would be "ranting and complaining". It's possible it could be "drunk" but it seems unlikely to me, as there are no references to drink.

Answer 4

At least in the field of economy, investment and finance, the term: on the tear, is widely used to describe a burst, a quick rise of stock prices, etc. See: For those of you who haven’t noticed, emerging markets have been on a tear.

Answer 5

There are multiple meanings to this idiom. There is "on a winning streak" which I take to be meant by your quote and also "drunk"/"on a drunken spree", both of which have already been described. However, I have also heard this phrase used to mean something more like "ranting and raving" or "righteously indignant". (I would pronounce "tear" in this usage to rhyme with wear or bear rather than year or fear.)

"On a tear" is the more common formulation, but with this usage, I believe, "in a tear" is sometimes used—I associate "in a tear" with old-fashioned, Southern, or "countrified" American vernacular, while "on a tear" doesn't have that connotation for me.

For example:

"Reed had learned to respect Sylvie Morrisette, even if he did have to walk on eggshells upon occasion. This morning she was flush in the face and looked as if she could spit nails. . . . Her west-Texas drawl was stronger than ever when she was on a tear and she was on a major one this morning. 'Bastard. That's what he is! A card-carrying, dyed-in-the-wool, fucking bastard.'" —Unspoken by Lisa Jackson

and

"' . . . I'm not going to write twentieth-century drivel. What do you want? Another rerun of "Ozzie and Harriet" or "Leave it to Beaver"?' She was on a tear. 'Earth to Maynard, turn off the TV. "Cheers" is dated bullshit. . . .'" —Women of Harvard Square by Michael Lieberman

For "in a tear":

"First she was complainin' about how William Allers was gonna marry Alice Hagginbotham, after Chloe thought he'd been courtin' her for the past few months. Well, she was in a tear." —Letters from the Trail by Emily Winters (note that it is clear from the larger context that this does not mean Chloe was crying)

and

"'I have a bit of a headache, that's all. Mama was in a tear this morning.' That explained everything. Mama in a tear was worse than a barrel of ale for making your head ache." —Sweet Disorder by Rose Lerner

and

"'Morons!' Terry was in a tear. Her outburst surprised me. She was taking this almost as personally as I was." —Lost and Found by Mary Lou Quinn

Hmm, looking at these examples (not cherry-picked) it appears that "in a tear" is a gendered phrase, used more often by female authors and describing almost exclusively female characters. I find no Google Books results at all for "he was in a tear" and most of the results for "he was on a tear" are using the winning streak or drunken idioms. A search for "was in a tear" turned up only the above three quotes, all by and about women, and "she was on a tear" shows examples of the usage I've described in all of the quotes visible on the first page of results. I wonder if this gendered split in usage holds true in spoken English, as well (I'm female, and this is the first definition that springs to mind for me, not the sports or drinking definitions).

Answer 6

I have often heard the phrase "on a tare" my entire life, growing up in the south. We always use it to refer to a person who is really mad/upset for an extended period of time. "Her husband bought her a vacuum for Valentine's Day, so she's been on a tare all week."

Answer 7

"On a tear" means doing a lot of something or doing something with unusual intensity or frequency. Also never say "IN a tear." Only ON. IN A TEAR is not colloquial.

Answer 8

I always believed it was "on a tare" referring to empty trucks (at tare weight) that have delivered their loads and are now barreling down the highway towards home, not struggling with hills and curves, full speed ahead.