😠 To annoy 💩 To cause diarrhea

to give the shits

9.9

To make someone have diarrhoea or a bad stomach

idiom

Offensive

: provocar diarrea

That dodgy seafood gave me the shits after only one bite last night.

Examples

Eating too many beans can give the shits.
She warned him that the cheap curry might give him the shits during his trip.
Some spicy foods always give me the shits, so I avoid them before work.
That spicy food really gave the shits to me!
Some spicy foods always give me the shits, so I avoid them before work.
That dodgy seafood gave me the shits after only one bite last night.
She warned him that the cheap curry might give him the shits during his trip.

Synonyms

to take you to brown town

vsto give the shits

Offensive

1 9.9

To make someone suddenly need to go to the toilet after eating

causes a severe stomach upset or diarrhoea rather than milder symptoms

Antonyms

to settle

540 2.8

To become calm and still after movement or excitement

to stabilize

75 4.3

To become steady and stop changing

How Sick

to give the shits

Offensive

9.9

to sicken

11 4.1

Surface Forms

give the shits infinitive

gave the shits past

given the shits past participle

giving the shits present participle

gives the shits third person singular

Morphology

give + the + shit

The causative verb 'give' combined with the vulgar noun 'shit' (here used in a nominalized plural form 'the shits' = diarrhoea) yields a directly inferable meaning: 'to cause diarrhoea.' The construction follows a common causative pattern ('give someone X' = cause X) and would be predictable to a B1 learner who knows the constituents, though it is slang/vulgar in register.

Etymology

Give the shits originally named food or drink that makes your stomach bad: it 'gives' you shits, so you need the toilet a lot. So it means 'to cause someone to have diarrhoea or a severe stomach upset'.