raise Cain

From Cain, the biblical son of Adam and Eve, the first murderer. The expression implies raising him from the dead and thus bringing or returning that evil to Earth.

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raise Cain (third-person singular simple present raises Cain, present participle raising Cain, simple past and past participle raised Cain)

1. (idiomatic) Synonym of raise hell.

   Those damned boys have been out drinking and raising Cain again tonight.

   • 1840 July 11, “A Good Joke”, in The New England Weekly Review (Hartford [Conn.])‎^[1]:

     Why have we every reason to believe that Adam and Eve were both rowdies? Because Eve raised the Old Harry, and they both raised Cain.

   • 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:

     "I seen old Flint in the corner there, behind you; as plain as print, I seen him; and if I get the horrors, I'm a man that has lived rough, and I'll raise Cain."

• raise cane (eggcorn)

• “raise Cain”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

• Césairian