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Definition |
to irritate someone by doing something annoying |
Examples |
1) Her criticism ruffled his feathers
and put him in a bad mood for the rest of the day. 2) His blunt
criticism of her work managed to ruffle her
feathers at the office meeting. |
Etymology |
The term originated from the literal sense
of birds' feathers being disturbed, which then metaphorically came to
represent causing annoyance in humans. |
Synonyms |
agitate, vex, provoke |
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