get the wind up

verb

get the wind up

verb

1

UK, Idiomatic To become frightened or disturbed.

Mustn't answer the door, mustn't touch the telephone, mustn't stir out of the house—I ask you now, George, what's likely to be the end of this sort of thing when her people get the wind up?1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London:

Related terms: have the wind up, put the wind up

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.