get a rise out of someone, to
get a rise out of
Elicit an angry or irritated reaction, as in His teasing always got a rise out of her. This expression alludes to the angler's dropping a fly in a likely spot in the hope that a fish will rise to this bait.
See also: get, of, out, rise
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
get a rise out of someone
If you get a rise out of someone, you succeed in annoying them by teasing or making fun of them. Note: The reference in these expressions is to a fish rising to the surface of the water to take the bait. Calm down. He's only trying to get a rise out of you. Once he decided that he wasn't going to get a rise out of me he didn't say a lot more.
See also: get, of, out, rise, someone
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.
get (or take) a rise out of
provoke an angry or irritated response from someone, especially by teasing them. informalSee also: get, of, out, rise
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
get a rise out of someone, to
To provoke to action or to anger. This term probably comes from fishing, in which the angler drops a fly in a likely spot and lets it float, hoping that the fish will rise to the bait. It was transferred to figurative use—that is, getting someone to lose his or her temper—early in the nineteenth century. Thackeray wrote, “Oh, but it was a rare rise we got out of them chaps” (Catherine, 1840).
See also: get, of, out, rise
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
- chips are down, the
- tree hugger
- tell (one) what (one) can do with (something)
- tell someone what to do with something
- tell what to do with
- drum (something) into one's head, to
- cat's paw, (be made) a
- donkey's ears
- be in the Land of Nod
- back number