English

Verb

make someone's blood boil

1. (idiomatic) To cause a person to feel angry or very annoyed, especially in situation in which one cannot fully display that feeling to others.
   • 1880, Charlotte M. Yonge, Love and Life, ch. 21:

     Dove says it makes her blood boil to see the way the poor young gentleman is treated.

   • 1915, Virginia Woolf, The Voyage Out, ch. 23:

     The hypocritical smugness of the English makes my blood boil.

   • 1922, William MacLeod Raine, Man Size, ch. 4:

     Most men gave him a wide berth, and for the sake of peace accepted sneers and insults that made the blood boil.

   • 1989 June 25, Jacquie Herz, "Beware: Teen-Age Driver, Nervous Mother," New York Times (retrieved 15 July 2011):

     Yet, I also know how intimidating it is to have a tailgater behind; it makes my blood boil.

   • 2008 Aug. 21, Joe Klein, "Where's Obama's Passion?, Time:

     A day earlier, he had said wage disparities between genders made his "blood boil".

See also

• make someone's blood run cold

Translations