red rag to a bull

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English

Etymology

Possibly refers to the red cape used by matadors in bullfighting.

Noun

red rag to a bull (plural red rags to a bull or red rags to bulls)

Something that will enrage another particular person.
Synonym: red rag

Simply mentioning the word "nationalism" to him is like a red rag to a bull.
- 1883, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter 6, in Life on the Mississippi, Boston, Mass.: James R Osgood and Company, →OCLC:
  This was a red rag to the bull. He raged and stormed so (he was crossing the river at the time) that I judge it made him blind, because he ran over the steering-oar of a trading-scow.
- 1886 May, Thomas Hardy, chapter XXX, in The Mayor of Casterbridge: The Life and Death of a Man of Character. , volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Smith, Elder & Co., , →OCLC:
  Any suspicion of impropriety was to Elizabeth-Jane like a red rag to a bull.
- 1873–1884 (date written), Samuel Butler, edited by R A Streatfeild, The Way of All Flesh, London: Grant Richards, published 1903, →OCLC:
  He did not say that he had been visiting among his neighbours; this to Pryer would have been like a red rag to a bull.
- 2023 March 28, Graeme McGarry, “Scott McTominay earns place in history as Scotland stun Spain”, in The Herald‎:
  The rolling around and screams of anguish from Porro though were like a red rag to a bull for the Scotland support, who howled and harangued his every touch before he was withdrawn at the interval, presumably for his own safety.

Usage notes

This is often used in constructions equivalent to make someone see red.
This is often used as a simile with like a or as a.

Translations

something that will enrage — see red rag

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