# What did they call an adrenaline rush before they discovered adrenaline?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-call-an-adrenaline-rush-before-they-discovered-adrenaline/821483>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 17, 2018, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-call-an-adrenaline-rush-before-they-discovered-adrenaline/821483 "2018-09-17T17:54:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2018, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-call-an-adrenaline-rush-before-they-discovered-adrenaline/821483/21 "2018-09-19T20:47:51Z")

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Don’t go getting all het up about this.  
Or in a dither, jittery or jumpy.  
Forget getting antsy or aflutter.  
Rarin’ or wild is out of the question.  
Having butterflies or the heebie-jeebies doesn’t become you.  
Don’t make a fuss or get frazzled.

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**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2018, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-call-an-adrenaline-rush-before-they-discovered-adrenaline/821483/22 "2018-09-19T21:49:10Z")

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> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#):
>
> From the movie Moby Dick, 1956. So the concept of one’s blood being up as an equivalent to an adrenaline rush dates back to at least…heh, 1956? Still, a wonderful line.

:dubious: Okay, the movie’s not so old but the phrase definitely is; Google Ngrams, again, records the use of [“[someone’s] blood was up”](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=blood+was+up&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cblood%20was%20up%3B%2Cc0) as early as 1800.

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**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2018, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-call-an-adrenaline-rush-before-they-discovered-adrenaline/821483/23 "2018-09-19T22:55:32Z")

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Never Mind. Kimstu got to it first.

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**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\
**Post date:** [September 20, 2018, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-they-call-an-adrenaline-rush-before-they-discovered-adrenaline/821483/24 "2018-09-20T01:04:48Z")

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I’ve no doubt it’s an old phrase, essentially synonymous with adrenaline rush. I was just leery about using Hollywood as a cite for mid-1800s vernacular. 🙂

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