get someone's goat
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˌɡɛt ˈsʌmwʌnz ˈɡəʊt/
ipa: /ˌɡɛt ˈsʌmwʌnz ˈɡoʊt/
Forms: form: gets someone's goat
form: getting someone's goat
form: got someone's goat
form: got someone's goat
form: gotten someone's goat
Etymology: Uncertain; it has been suggested that the term may be derived from French prendre la chèvre (literally “to take the goat”), or refer to the stealing of a goat mascot from a military unit, etc.
Senses: examples: text: It really gets my goat when inconsiderate people drop litter in public.
text: If he had legged it on his own account, because what he heard me say got his goat, I could understand that.
ref: 1915, Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, chapter XXIII, in Uneasy Money, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton and Company, published 17 March 1916, →OCLC, page 306:
text: "Unfortunately," said Soames, "there's no such thing as luck in properly regulated assurance, as we shall find, or I'm much mistaken. I shouldn't be surprised if an action lay against the Board for gross negligence!" That had got the Chairman's goat!—Got his goat? What expressions they used nowadays!
ref: 1924 October, John Galsworthy, “The Mark Falls”, in The White Monkey, London: William Heinemann, published November 1924, →OCLC, part II, page 123:
text: But there's one litte thing that gets my goat, / That certainly strikes a sour note. / It's that Southern Ship who has my place— / With her larger decks and her faster pace.
ref: 1941 May, “Milestone”, in T. Orchard Lisle, editor, The Log, volume 36, number 8, San Francisco, Calif.: Miller Freeman Publishers, →OCLC, page 34:
text: It sure did get their goat; they turned without saying a word and walked off toward the highway, red-necked, us laughing behind them. I forget sometimes what laughter can do.
ref: 1962 February 1, Ken Kesey, One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Signet Books; 225), New York, N.Y.: New American Library, →OCLC; republished New York, N.Y.: Signet, New American Library, February 1963, →OCLC, page 95:
text: Sometimes people are quite simply intent on riling us; on getting our goat. [...] If you don't want them to get your goat, don't let them know where it is.
ref: 2002, Barry Winbolt, “Looking for New Ideas”, in Difficult People: A Guide to Handling Difficult Behaviour, Seaford, East Sussex: ISR Publishing, Institute for Social Relations, published 2005, →ISBN, section 2, pages 191–192:
text: As Sandra Strain had seen it, as quickly as Natty had gotten her goat, she had slaughtered it by being apologetic. This was not what the girl had anticipated, nor wanted to hear.
ref: 2005, Sandy Santistevan, chapter 7, in Song of the Cicada: A Novel, Lincoln, Neb.: iUniverse, →ISBN, page 79:
synonyms: word: get someone's nanny
word: get someone's nanny-goat
word: get under one's goat
word: give someone the shits
word: aggravate
word: annoy
word: rankle
word: ruffle
word: sting
word: antagonize
word: bother
word: disgruntle
word: botherate
word: bug
word: get
word: grate
word: burn up
word: bedevil
word: cheese off
word: devil
word: exasperate
word: frustrate
word: get up
word: grotch
word: hack off
word: hassle
word: irk
word: irritate
word: jazz
word: molest
word: mommick
word: nark
word: nerve
word: pee off
word: peeve
word: persecute
word: pique
word: piss off
word: provoke
word: rile
word: rile up
word: roil
word: storm
word: test someone's patience
word: tick off
word: trouble
word: try one's patience
word: vex
word: wind up
word: Idioms:
word: boil someone's piss
word: chap someone's hide
word: get on someone's nerves
word: get on someone's tits
word: get on someone's wick
word: get someone's back up
word: get someone's dander up
word: get someone's goat
word: get someone's Irish up
word: get someone's nanny
word: get someone's nanny-goat
word: get under one's goat
word: get under someone's skin
word: give someone the shits
word: grind one's gears
word: harsh one's mellow
word: put someone's back up
word: raise someone's hackles
word: rub someone the wrong way
word: rub up the wrong way
word: ruffle someone's feathers
word: tee off
word: torque off
word: affront
word: aggravate
word: anger
word: antagonize
word: awrath
word: burn up
word: cheese off
word: cross
word: embitter
word: envenom
word: gall
word: get
word: get to
word: honk off
word: incense
word: inflame
word: infuriate
word: madden
word: make angry
word: nark
word: offend
word: outrage
word: provoke
word: put out
word: rankle
word: rile
word: piss off
word: roil
word: set off
word: steam
word: tick off
word: get one's back up
word: get someone's dander up
word: get someone's goat
word: get someone's Irish up
word: make someone see red
word: make someone's blood boil
word: put someone's back up
word: raise someone's hackles
word: raise someone's shag
word: rattle someone's cage
word: rub the wrong way
word: ruffle some feathers
word: set up someone's birse
coordinate_terms: yank someone's chain
glosses: To annoy or infuriate someone.
wikipedia: Michael Quinion