Dictionary

get one's shirt out en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Etymology

From the custom of taking one's shirt off before fighting (after becoming annoyed).

Meanings

1. (dated, idiomatic) To become angry or annoyed; to lose one's temper.
   • "All right, sir, all right," said Chizzlem, lighting a huge cigar; "there it is, don't get your shirt out about it. I daresay I'll get along well enough without you. Though why you should be ashamed at what some of the flyest men do regularly, I can't tell." 1883, Robert Harborough Sherard, A Bartered Honour: A Novel, Volume 1, Remington, page 183:
   • I dare him, says he, and I doubledare him to send you round here again or if he does, says he, I'll have him summonsed up before the court, so I will, for trading without a licence. And he after stuffing himself till he's fit to burst. Jesus, I had to laugh at the little jewy getting his shirt out. 1922, James Joyce, Ulysses, Episode 12: The Cyclops:

Forms

Relateds

shirty · keep one's shirt on