put (one's/someone's) back up



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put (one's/someone's) back up

To be or become angry, hostile, defensive, defiant, or irritable, or to instill such a feeling in someone else. John put his back up when his parents brought up the subject of college. Election season always puts my dad's back up.
See also: back, put, up

Common Names:

NameGenderPronouncedUsage
Seraphina-English (Rare), German (Rare), Late Roman
MilburnMIL-bərnEnglish
Steen-Danish
Laima-Lithuanian, Latvian, Baltic Mythology
Penn[pen]
Taegan-English (Rare)