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Questions about tracing out and describing the elements of an individual word, as well as the historical changes in form and sense which that word has experienced over its history. Please use the 'phrase-origin' tag for phrase/expression origins.

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What is the origin of the idiom "tearing hair out"?

It originates in the Bible in the Book of Nehemiah. The prophet Nehemiah pulled his hair out in response to the desecration of the holy Temple and at the abuse of the Sabbath.
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