Question

Get Your Goat to annoy very badly; to make a person angry

Accepted Answer

It really got my uncle's goat when he cooked for three hours and no one ate the meal. This American expression dates from about 1900. It was a common practice to put a goat in the stall of a nervous racehorse to be its friend and keep it calm. If people wanted the horse to lose a race, they would sneak the goat out of the stall to upset the horse. There are several expressions that also mean to disturb or annoy someone: "get your dander up," "get your back up," and "get your hackles up."

Idiom	Get Your Goat
Example	It really got my uncle's goat when he cooked for three hours and no one ate the meal.
Meaning	to annoy very badly; to make a person angry
Origin	This American expression dates from about 1900. It was a common practice to put a goat in the stall of a nervous racehorse to be its friend and keep it calm. If people wanted the horse to lose a race, they would sneak the goat out of the stall to upset the horse. There are several expressions that also mean to disturb or annoy someone: "get your dander up," "get your back up," and "get your hackles up."

Goat Annoy Stall Uncle's Cooked Hours Ate Meal