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lence; to threaten; to bully; hence, to torment by words; to tease; to taunt; to worry or irritate by bullying. Dryden.

The note of a goose when irritated.

th frequent, unreasonable, or troublesome application or pertinacity; hence, to tease; to irritate; to worry. Their ministers and residents here have perpetually importuned the court with unreasonable demands. Swift.

To provoke to anger or rage; to exasperate; to irritate; to incense; to enrage. It will inflame you; it will make you mad. Shak.

Tending to inflame, kindle, or irritate.

That which irritates or excites.

The act of irritating, or exciting, or the state of being irritated; excitement; stimulation, usually of an undue and uncomfortable kind; especially, excitement of anger or passion; provocation; annoyance; anger. The whole body of the arts and sciences composes one vast machinery for the irritation and development of t…

Serving to excite or irritate; irritating; as, an irritative agent.

To fret or sting; to irritate or vex; to cause to experience sensations of displeasure or uneasiness not amounting to violent anger. The princes were so nettled at the scandal of this affront, that every man took it to himself. L'Estrange.

To wound the pride of; to sting; to nettle; to irritate; to fret; to offend; to excite to anger. Pique her, and soothe in turn. Byron.

cite, as a person, to action by a challenge, by taunts, or by defiance; to exasperate; to irritate; to offend intolerably; to cause to retaliate. Obey his voice, provoke him not. Ex. xxiii. 21. Ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath. Eph. vi. 4. Such acts Of contumacy will provoke the Highest To make death in u…

They are exceedingly venomous, and have the power of greatly distending their bodies when irritated. The common puff adder (Vipera, or Clotho, arietans) is the largest species, becoming over four feet long. The plumed puff adder (C. cornuta) has a plumelike appendage over each eye. (b) A North American harmless snake (…

Apt or disposed to quarrel; given to brawls and contention; easily irritated or provoked to contest; irascible; choleric.

p falen leaves in heap. Chapman To ruffle the feathers of, to exite the resentment of; to irritate.

To set on fire, to communicate fire to; fig., to inflame; to enkindle the passions of; to irritate. -- To set flying (Naut.), to hook to halyards, sheets, etc., instead of extending with rings or the like on a stay; -- said of a sail. -- To set forth. (a) To manifest; to offer or present to view; to exhibt; to displa…

Ill-will or hatred toward another, accompanied with the disposition to irritate, annoy, or thwart; petty malice; grudge; rancor; despite. Pope. This is the deadly spite that angers. Shak.

To excite; to irritate; especially, to excite the activity of (a nerve or an irritable muscle), as by electricity.

To pierce or wound with a sting; as, bees will sting an animal that irritates them; the nettles stung his hands.

To vex with importunity or impertinence; to harass, annoy, disturb, or irritate by petty requests, or by jests and raillery; to plague. Cowper. He . . . suffered them to tease him into acts directly opposed to his strongest inclinations. Macaulay.

Fretful; peevish; petulant; easily irritated. Must I observe you must I stand and crouch Under your testy humor Shak. I was displeased with myself; I was testy. Latimer.