warpath

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a course of hostile action or an angrily confrontational mood, especially in the phrase on the warpath

   The editor was on the warpath after discovering the fabricated quotations.

2. 2
   noun

   a route or expedition undertaken for warfare, especially in older North American usage

   The scouts believed the party had set out on the warpath.

Formed from war + path in North American English. It first referred to a route or expedition undertaken for warfare and later developed the figurative phrase on the warpath for an angry or aggressively confrontational course.

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