Language: en
Meaning: (informal,idiomatic)Toannoyorinfuriatesomeone.Synonyms:get someone's nanny,get someone's nanny-goat,get under one's goat,(Australia, colloquial, vulgar)give someone the shits;see alsoThesaurus:annoy,Thesaurus:enrageCoordinate term:yank someone's chainIt reallygets my goatwhen inconsiderate people drop litter in public.1915,Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, chapter XXIII, inUneasy Money, New York, N.Y.:D. Appleton and Company, published17 March 1916,→OCLC,page306:If he had legged it on his own account, because what he heard me saygot his goat, I could understand that.1924October,John Galsworthy, “The Mark Falls”, inThe White Monkey, London:William Heinemann, published November 1924,→OCLC, part II,page123:"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 hadgot the Chairman's goat!—Got his goat? What expressions they used nowadays!1941May, “Milestone”, in T. Orchard Lisle, editor,The Log, volume36, number 8, San Francisco, Calif.:Miller Freeman Publishers,→OCLC,page34:But there's one litte thing thatgets 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.1962February 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,page95:It sure didget 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.2002, Barry Winbolt, “Looking for New Ideas”, inDifficult People: A Guide to Handling Difficult Behaviour, Seaford, East Sussex: ISR Publishing, Institute for Social Relations, published2005,→ISBN, section 2,pages191–192:Sometimes people are quite simply intent on riling us; ongetting our goat. [...] If you don't want them toget your goat, don't let them know where it is.2005, Sandy Santistevan, chapter 7, inSong of the Cicada: A Novel, Lincoln, Neb.:iUniverse,→ISBN,page79:As Sandra Strain had seen it, as quickly as Natty hadgotten her goat, she had slaughtered it by being apologetic. This was not what the girl had anticipated, nor wanted to hear.
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