IdiomBody & Senses
Swedish
Swedishreta gallfeber på
Meaning: To infuriate or enrage someone intensely.
Literally: To tease gall-fever on
Example: “Grannens hund retar gallfeber på mig varje natt.” — The neighbor's dog drives me up the wall every night.
English equivalent: To drive someone up the wall
Equivalents in other languages
French: Faire devenir chèvre Literally: To make someone turn into a goat
English: drive someone up the wall
Origin: Gallfeber (bile fever) was an old medical name for a fever thought to come from an excess of bile, the humor of anger. SAOB records the figurative sense, a violent fit of rage, from 1789; to tease bile fever on someone is to make them furious.
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