English Explanatory Dictionary

grind one's gears

English dictionary entry

Meanings

verb

To annoy or irritate one.

Pronunciation

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-grind one's gears.wav

Word forms

grind one's gears grinds one's gears grinding one's gears ground one's gears

Etymology

As an analogy to a state in a multispeed internal combustion engine in which improperly synchronized inputs and outputs in the transmission during a gear shift (as by driver error or a mechanical fault) lead to literal grinding of gears against each other as they're forced to mesh at different speeds from one another. The noise produced is harsh and grating, and damage to the transmission can accumulate with repeated occurrences.

Synonyms

chap someone's hide get someone's goat aggravate annoy nettle rankle ruffle sting antagonize bother disgruntle botherate bug get grate burn up bedevil cheese off devil exasperate frustrate get up grotch hack off hassle irk irritate jazz molest mommick nark nerve pee off peeve persecute pique piss off provoke rile rile up roil storm test someone's patience tick off trouble try one's patience vex wind up Idioms: boil someone's piss get on someone's nerves get on someone's tits get on someone's wick get someone's back up get someone's dander up get someone's Irish up get someone's nanny get someone's nanny-goat get under one's goat get under someone's skin

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