Word.ws English Dictionary

got someone's Irish up

got someone's Irish up is the simple past of get someone's Irish up.

got someone's Irish up is the past participle of get someone's Irish up.

Meaning of get someone's Irish up

Verb

get someone's Irish up (third-person singular simple present gets someone's Irish up, present participle getting someone's Irish up, simple past got someone's Irish up, past participle (UK) got someone's Irish up or (US) gotten someone's Irish up)

  1. (potentially offensive) To anger or annoy someone.
    • "It's so crazy I've got to believe they're either paranoid or trying to get his Irish up so he will run [and split the anti-Carter vote in the primaries]. My guess is it's paranoia."1979, David Garth, New York Magazine, page 14

Questions about got someone's Irish up

What is got someone's Irish up the simple past of?
Got someone's Irish up is the simple past of get someone's Irish up.

Words near got someone's Irish up in the dictionary

  1. got someone's back
  2. got someone's back up
  3. got someone's dander up
  4. got someone's drift
  5. got someone's goat
  6. got someone's Irish up
  7. got someone's nanny
  8. got someone's nanny-goat
  9. got someone's number
  10. got someone's shirt out
  11. got something over with

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: got someone's Irish up (page history and authors); get someone's Irish up (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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