out of control

Idioms and Phrases

Also, out of hand . No longer under management, direction, or regulation; unmanageable or unruly. For example, Housing costs are out of control , or The children were getting out of hand again . The first term uses control in the sense of “restraint,” a usage dating from the late 1500s; the variant uses hand in the sense of “power” or “authority,” and dates from the late 1800s.