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poke the bear. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
poke the bear, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
poke the bear in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Etymology
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).
Verb
poke the bear (third-person singular simple present pokes the bear, present participle poking the bear, simple past and past participle poked the bear)
- (US, idiomatic) To deliberately aggravate somebody, especially somebody in a position of power or authority.
2012, Marty Makary, Unaccountable, Bloomsbury Publishing USA, →ISBN, page 17:Throughout my training I witnessed several doctors run out of town because their honesty and outspokenness began to poke the bear.
2020 October 12, Andrew Marantz, “Why Facebook Can’t Fix Itself”, in The New Yorker:His advice to Zuckerberg, the Times later reported, was “Don’t poke the bear”—avoid incurring the wrath of Trump and his supporters.
- (slang, idiomatic) To deliberately anger Russia or the Russian government.
See also