Word.ws English Dictionary

jerk someone's chain

jerk someone's chain is the alternative form of yank someone's chain.

Meaning of yank someone's chain

Verb

yank someone's chain (third-person singular simple present yanks someone's chain, present participle yanking someone's chain, simple past and past participle yanked someone's chain)

  1. (idiomatic, informal) To tease someone; to lead someone on; to goad someone into overreacting.
    • Near-synonyms: poke, prod
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see yank, chain.

Forms of jerk someone's chain

third-person singular presentjerks someone's chain
present participlejerking someone's chain
past participlejerked someone's chain
pastjerked someone's chain

Questions about jerk someone's chain

What is jerk someone's chain the alternative form of?
Jerk someone's chain is the alternative form of yank someone's chain.

Words near jerk someone's chain in the dictionary

  1. jerk off
  2. jerk offs
  3. jerk one off
  4. jerk one out
  5. jerk over
  6. jerk someone's chain
  7. jerk the gherkin
  8. jerk up
  9. jerk water
  10. jerk-ass
  11. jerk-asses

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: jerk someone's chain (page history and authors); yank someone's chain (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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