Meaning of red rag to a bull | Babel Free

Definitions

Something that will enrage another particular person.

Examples

“Simply mentioning the word "nationalism" to him is like a red rag to a bull.”

“This was a red rag to the bull. He raged and stormed so (he was crossing the river at the time) that I judge it made him blind, because he ran over the steering-oar of a trading-scow.”

“Any suspicion of impropriety was to Elizabeth-Jane like a red rag to a bull.”

“He did not say that he had been visiting among his neighbours; this to Pryer would have been like a red rag to a bull.”

“The rolling around and screams of anguish from Porro though were like a red rag to a bull for the Scotland support, who howled and harangued his every touch before he was withdrawn at the interval, presumably for his own safety.”

CEFR level