stirring up the animals

Verb

stir up the animals (third-person singular simple present stirs up the animals, present participle stirring up the animals, simple past and past participle stirred up the animals)

1. To cause public discontent or controversy.
   • He styled himself both a Prohibition-flouting "Baltimoron" and "an incurable snob," the voice of "the intelligent minority" determined "to stir up the animals."2001, Richard P. Horwitz, The American Studies Anthology, page 50