rages

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of rage.

   His violent rages cost him several friendships over the years.

   The toddler's afternoon rages usually ended in tears and a nap.

   Note

   The plural belongs only to the countable uses of rage: separate fits of fury rather than anger as a state of mind. The same form can also count fashions or fads, and in Australian, New Zealand and US slang it counts boisterous parties. In older writing, rages could name vehement passions of any kind, not only anger, a reading now obsolete.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of rage.

   A wildfire rages through the dry hills above the town.

   He rages at the slightest criticism of his work.

   Note

   Spelled exactly like the plural noun, this form is told apart by its role: a person or a storm rages, while the noun usually takes a determiner (his rages). The verb is intransitive: one rages at something or through a place. The transitive sense, to enrage someone, is obsolete. In Australian, New Zealand and US slang, someone who rages is simply partying hard.

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