see red

referring to an initial indication of battle frenzy, or homicidal trance, during which survivors have said their entire visual field was "tinged with a pink haze" (from a Civil War account of the Battle of the Wilderness - the "Cornfield" encounter battle). During this frenzy, an attacker's fear transforms into ecstatic fury leading them to kill friend and foe alike, and afterward recalled (if at all) in a fragmented series of vignettes, from a perspective outside the attacker's own body, with a disturbing, dim echo of joy. Usually used in the first person, simply to mean " I became enraged".

To see red: "When he broke my heirloom punch bowl, I saw red and grabbed the fireplace poker."

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