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Glite Dictionary
to put someone's back up

to put someone's back up

7.7
To make someone angry or ready to argue
  • idiom
  • UK
translation icon : enfadar
  • The way he spoke to me put my back up immediately.

Examples

  • If you keep interrupting, you'll just put her back up again.

  • Don't put her back up with those comments!

  • Her criticism really put my back up during the meeting.

  • His rude remarks put my back up during the meeting.

  • His rude comment really put my back up during the meeting.

  • She didn't mean to put his back up with her criticism, but he took it personally.

  • The constant changes in policy put the employees' backs up and created a tense atmosphere.

Synonyms

to give someone a hard time
vsto put someone's back up
  • Informal
90 3.9

Make someone feel bad by criticizing or teasing them

can make someone angry or defensive but focuses on ongoing difficulty
to get a rise out of
vsto put someone's back up
  • Informal
8 6.8

Make someone angry or annoyed on purpose by teasing them

triggers anger or defensiveness but does not always imply intention
to jump down someone's throat
vsto put someone's back up
  • Informal
4 8.2

To suddenly speak angrily and criticize someone for a small mistake

may make someone defensive but describes an angry response by the speaker
to push someone's buttons
vsto put someone's back up
  • Informal
1 7.1

To do or say something on purpose to annoy someone

causes anger or defensiveness but without implying deliberate intent
to get one's dander up
vsto put someone's back up
  • Informal
1 9.1

To make someone angry

expresses the same effect but stresses the build up of anger
to get someone's back up
vsto put someone's back up
  • UK
1 7.9

To annoy someone or make them feel defensive

has identical meaning but uses a different verb phrasing
to do someone's head in
vsto put someone's back up
  • UK
1 9.8

To make someone feel very annoyed or upset

causes anger or defensiveness rather than prolonged confusion or distress
to put up someone's back
vsto put someone's back up
  • UK
8.9

To annoy someone so they become defensive

is the same meaning but appears as a variant phrasing
to snap someone's head off
vsto put someone's back up
  • Offensive
8.0

To speak to someone in a sudden angry way without good reason

can produce defensiveness in others but focuses on the speaker's abrupt anger

Antonyms

to appease
48 5.8

To calm someone by giving in to their demands

How Angry

to enrage
68 3.7
to put someone's back up
  • UK
7.7
to annoy
246 1.0

Surface Forms

put someone's back up infinitive

Morphology

put + someone's + back + up

The sense 'to make someone angry or defensive' is not transparently derived from the literal meanings of 'put' + 'someone's' + 'back' + 'up' — the spatial/positional sense of 'back' and 'up' does not map predictably onto anger. This is an idiomatic (and regionally common) expression, so a B1 learner knowing the constituent words would likely not infer the intended meaning without prior exposure.

Etymology

The idiom put someone's back up comes from the picture of a scared animal that raises its fur and arches its back when it feels in danger. So, to put someone's back up is to make them stiff and ready to defend themselves, which is why it means to make someone 'angry' or 'defensive'.