to get a rise
Preserved but no longer current.
Colloquial for to have an in- crease in salary, To take a rise out of one. To raise a laugh at his expense, to make him a butt. Hotten says this is a metaphor from fly-fishing; the fish rise to the fly, and are caught.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “to get a rise” mean?
Colloquial for to have an in- crease in salary, To take a rise out of one. To raise a laugh at his expense, to make him a butt. Hotten says this is a metaphor from fly-fishing; the fish rise to the fly, and are caught.
Is “to get a rise” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.