Choose the correct definition a, b or c.
b) to annoy someone very much
Well done ! That’s the right answer.
If you ’get somebody’s goat’, you upset or irritate them very much.
The origin is disputed. Some say the expression comes from a tradition in horse racing. Thought to have a calming effect on high-strung thoroughbreds, a goat was placed in the horse’s stall on the night before the race. Unscrupulous opponents would then steal the goat in an effort to upset the horse and cause it to lose the race.
French translation
taper sur les nerfs ou sur le système de quelqu’un, mettre quelqu’un en boule
How NOT to translate into French : *prendre la chèvre de quelqu’un
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Examples in the press
Do weedy lots get your goat ? Pueblo goatherders may help thanks to amendment of city rules
Tony Gonzales recently had a mouse problem.
The problem got so bad that he and his siblings were thinking about selling their parents’ home in the Domega Homes subdivision in western Pueblo.
Mice loved to hide in the stormwater field next to their house, Gonzales said, and the tall fence wasn’t enough protection to keep the rodents from coming into their home.
After local businessman and goatherder Luke Wodiuk started bringing goats around to the lot to eat the weeds every year, the mouse problem was resolved, Gonzales said.
The Pueblo Chieftain, 17 August 2022
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Everyday usage
That sort of attitude really gets my goat.
The way he’s always correcting other people’s English really gets my goat !
Simon may seem unflappable, but I know a way to get his goat.
2 Dec. 2022
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