get someone's back up

Slang definitions & phrases for get someone's back up

verb phrase

To become angry or make someone angry, esp in a way to cause one to resist: When they said he was lying, that got his back up (1887+)

Idioms and Phrases with get someone's back up

Also,

get someone's dander up

;

put or set someone's back up

. Make angry, as in

Bill's arrogance really got my back up

, or

The foolish delays at the bank only put her back up

Get one's back up

and

get one's dander up

mean “become angry,” as in

Martha is quick to get her dander up

. The

back

in these phrases alludes to a cat arching its back when annoyed, and

put

and

set

were the earliest verbs used in this idiom, dating from the 1700s;

get

is more often heard today. The origin of

dander

, used since the early 1800s, is disputed; a likely theory is that it comes from the Dutch

donder

, for “thunder.” Also see