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Glite Dictionary
to climb the walls

to climb the walls

1 8.1
To feel very restless and anxious because of boredom or frustration
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : estar desesperado
  • I'd be climbing the walls within a week.

Examples

  • When I have to stay indoors for too long, I start to feel like I'm climbing the walls.

  • Pugsley's been climbing the walls in anticipation.

    The Addams Family (2019)

  • They begin with good intentions, but within hours, most of them are climbing the walls to get out for their next fix.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • For all we know, the mere mention of Meg Harris's name will have her climbing the walls, and we have enough difficulty paying our policemen without squandering the budget on court battles with a tetchy millionaire who's already worried about his daughter's state of mind.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • After sitting still for hours, he was climbing the walls with boredom.

  • She felt like she was climbing the walls as she waited for the meeting to start.

Synonyms

to run up the walls
vsto climb the walls
  • UK
8.2

To feel very worried and unable to relax

is similar but often comes from boredom or frustration rather than general stress
to get up the wall
vsto climb the walls
  • UK
9.9

To become very annoyed or frustrated by something small and repeated

is stronger and involves intense restlessness and anxiety beyond annoyance

Antonyms

to relax
∞ 1.0

To feel less nervous and more calm

How Restless

to climb the walls
  • Informal
1 8.1
to pace
83 3.0
to fidget
26 3.4

Surface Forms

climb the walls infinitive
climbed the walls past
climbed the walls past participle
climbing the walls present participle
climbs the walls third person singular

Morphology

climb + the + wall

The sense 'to feel extremely restless or agitated' is a conventionalized figurative meaning that cannot be directly derived from the literal actions denoted by 'climb' and 'wall'; a B1 learner who only knows the constituent words would most likely interpret a physical action rather than inner agitation. Even if some languages have similar idioms, the metaphorical shift is language-specific and unpredictable without prior exposure, so the expression is not transparently compositional.

Etymology

The idiom climb the walls may come from the clear picture of someone so bored or nervous they try to climb the walls of a room, like a trapped person trying to get out. That's why it now means 'to feel very restless or anxious'.