poke the bear
verbEtymology
The second sense refers to the use of bears to represent Russia, as a shortening of the idiom "poke the Russian bear" (to anger or threaten Russia and start a war with Russia).
- derived from bear"
Definitions
To deliberately aggravate somebody, especially somebody in a position of power or…
To deliberately aggravate somebody, especially somebody in a position of power or authority.
- Throughout my training I witnessed several doctors run out of town because their honesty and outspokenness began to poke the bear.
- His advice to Zuckerberg, the Times later reported, was “Don’t poke the bear”—avoid incurring the wrath of Trump and his supporters.
To deliberately anger Russia or the Russian government.
The neighborhood
- neighborbearbaiting
- neighborruffle some feathers
- neighborwhen you mess with the bull, you get the horns
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for poke the bear. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA