provoke
verbUK /pɹəˈvəʊk/ · CA, US /pɹəˈvoʊk/
Etymology Borrowed from Middle French provoquer, from Old French, from Latin prōvocāre. Doublet of provocate.
1
To cause someone to become annoyed or angry.
- Don't provoke the dog; it may try to bite you.
- In the meane time it chaunced, that Marcus Papyrius ſtroke one of the Galles on the heade with his ſtaffe, because he preſumed to ſtroke his bearde: with whiche iniurie the Gaulle beeing prouoked, ſlue Papyrius (as he ſate) with hys ſworde, and therewith the ſlaughter being begun with one, all the reſidue of thoſe auncient fatherly men as they ſat in theyr Chayres were ſlaine and cruelly murthered.1577, Raphaell Holinshed, “The Historie of Englande”, in The Firste Volume of the Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande […], volume I, London: […] [Henry Bynneman] for Iohn Harrison, →OCLC, page 26, columns 1–2:
1 more example
- Ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ephesians 6:4:
2
To bring about a reaction.
- To the poet the meaning is what he pleases to make it, what it provokes in his own soul.1881, John Burroughs, Pepacton:
- Thence Sish went forth into the world to destroy its cities, and to provoke his hours to assail all things, and to batter against them with the rust and with the dust.1905, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], The Gods of Pegāna, London: [Charles] Elkin Mathews, […], →OCLC:
2 more examples
- An old traditional prescription for provoking erotic inclinations ran as follows, The toe of the foot of a man, anointed with oil, or honey, or the ashes of a weasel.1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 234:
- Spain were provoked into a response and Villa almost provided a swift equaliser when he rounded Hart but found the angle too acute and could only hit the side-netting.2011 November 12, “International friendly: England 1-0 Spain”, in BBC Sport:
3
Obsolete To appeal.
- Even Arius and Pelagius durst provoke To what the centuries preceding spoke.[1682], [John] Dryden, Religio Laici or A Laymans Faith. A Poem, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC:
- Derived terms
- nonprovoked, overprovoke, picking quarrels and provoking trouble, provocation, provocative, provokable, provokee, provokement, provoker, reprovoke, unprovoke, unprovoked
- Related terms
- evoke, invoke, provocateur, revoke