run high

run high idiom
Be intense, as in Feelings are running high on the issue of raising taxes. This expression, first recorded in 1711, transfers the strong currents or tides that make for high waves to human concerns.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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