poke the bear
To deliberately aggravate somebody, especially somebody in a position of power or…To deliberately aggravate somebody, especially somebody in a position of power or authority.
» Don't poke a sleeping bear.
CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
2 senses(US, idiomatic)To deliberately aggravate somebody, especially somebody in a position of power or authority.
(idiomatic, slang)To deliberately anger Russia or the Russian government.
Examples
7 sentencesDon't poke a sleeping bear.
We don't want to poke the bear.
Yanni poked at the dead bear with his rifle.
You better quit poking the bear before it wakes up.
ruВы бы перестали тыкать в медведя, пока он не проснулся. — Ooneykcall
Don't poke the bear.
ruНе трогай медведя. — Ooneykcall
Origin
The second sense refers to the use of bears to represent Russia, as a shortening of the idThe second sense refers to the use of bears to represent Russia, as a shortening of the idiom "poke the Russian bear" (to anger or threaten Russia and start a war with Russia).
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
pokes the bear, poking the bear, poked the bear, poked the bear| Base form | poke the bear · to poke the bear |
|---|---|
| 3rd person singular | pokes the bear |
| Present participle | poking the bear |
| Past simple | poked the bear |
| Past participle | poked the bear |
irregular
Word family
1 related wordsLessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, regular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle