make someone's blood boil

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search

English[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (file)

Verb[edit]

make someone's blood boil (third-person singular simple present makes someone's blood boil, present participle making someone's blood boil, simple past and past participle made someone's blood boil)

  1. (idiomatic) To cause a person to feel angry or very annoyed, especially in situation in which one cannot fully display that feeling to others.
    • 1880, Charlotte M. Yonge, chapter 21, in Love and Life:
      Dove says it makes her blood boil to see the way the poor young gentleman is treated.
    • 1915, Virginia Woolf, chapter 23, in The Voyage Out:
      The hypocritical smugness of the English makes my blood boil.
    • 1922, William MacLeod Raine, chapter 4, in Man Size:
      Most men gave him a wide berth, and for the sake of peace accepted sneers and insults that made the blood boil.
    • 1989 June 25, Jacquie Herz, “Beware: Teen-Age Driver, Nervous Mother”, in New York Times, retrieved 15 July 2011:
      Yet, I also know how intimidating it is to have a tailgater behind; it makes my blood boil.
    • 2008 Aug. 21, Joe Klein, "Where's Obama's Passion?, Time:
      A day earlier, he had said wage disparities between genders made his "blood boil".

Translations[edit]

See also[edit]