to get the needle
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
To become thoroughly vexed, or even enraged, and to show it. A variant of the phrase is to get the spike.
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 the needle” mean?
To become thoroughly vexed, or even enraged, and to show it. A variant of the phrase is to get the spike.
Is “to get the needle” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.