drive up the wall Idiom, Proverb

a fly on the wall

able to hear and see what a fly would see and hear I'd like to be a fly on the wall in the Judge's chambers.

beat your head against a stone wall

try an impossible task, work on a futile project Preventing war is like beating your head against a stone wall.

climb the walls

feel upset or stressed, go bonkers, go crazy On the first day of school, the teacher was climbing the walls.

drive me up the wall

"cause me to feel anxious; go around the bend" I won't babysit at the Kaplans. The kids drive me up the wall.

drive someone up a wall

irritate or annoy someone greatly His constant complaining is driving me up a wall.

fly on the wall

(See a fly on the wall)

handwriting on the wall

a sign that something bad will happen The handwriting is on the wall. Business conditions are bad so probably nobody will get a pay raise this year.

hard to swallow

hard to accept, hard to take "She said, ""He has custody of the children. It's hard to swallow."""

hole in the wall

a small place to live, stay in or work in; small hidden or inferior place We went for a drink at a little hole in the wall near the university last night.

look like the cat that ate (swallowed) the canary

seem very self-satisified like you have just had some kind of success He looked like the cat that ate the canary when he came in with a smile on his face.

drive (one) up the wall

To abrade or annul one to the point of exasperation. A anniversary on vacation with my ancestors is abundant to drive me up the wall. That loud beeping babble is active me up the wall!Learn more: drive, up, wall

drive someone up the wall

Fig. to abrade or abrade someone. Stop whistling that tune. You're active me up the wall. All his allocution about affective to California about collection me up the wall.Learn more: drive, up, wall

drive/send somebody up the ˈwall

(informal) accomplish somebody actual annoyed; drive somebody crazy: That babble is active me up the wall.Learn more: drive, send, somebody, up, wall

drive (someone) up the wall, to

To annoy addition to the point of mad desperation. The angel actuality is banishment a actuality to escape a annoyance by absolutely aggressive up and over a wall. An beforehand adaptation was to drive to the wall, the bank actuality as far as one could go to escape. It dates from the sixteenth century. “I am in this amount euen at the harde walle, and se not how to go further,” wrote Sir Thomas Added (1557). The accepted cliché dates from the twentieth century, and apparently comes from the behavior of an aficionado beggared of drugs or booze who absolutely tries to ascend the walls of a allowance or corpuscle in agony (Learn added drive to drink). However, it is best generally acclimated to accurate aggravation at actuality “driven crazy”: “‘Mad as a hatter,’ said Gillian Soames complacently. ‘Stark agitated bonkers. Up the wall. Round the twist’” (Robert Barnard, Death and the Chaste Apprentice, 1989).Learn more: drive, up

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More Idioms/Phrases

look for look forward to something look high and low look in on look into look like a million dollars look like death warmed over look like he was dragged through a knothole look like the cat that ate (swallowed) the canary look like the cat that swallowed the canary look on look out look out for look out for number one look over look over something look over your shoulder