Verb

(exasperat)

To frustrate, vex, provoke, or annoy; to make angry.

* , Macbeth , act 3, sc. 6:

this report

Hath so exasperate the king that he

Prepares for some attempt of war.

* 1851 , , Moby Dick , ch. 3:

The picture represents a Cape-Horner in a great hurricane; the half-foundered ship weltering there with its three dismantled masts alone visible; and an exasperated whale, purposing to spring clean over the craft, is in the enormous act of impaling himself upon the three mast-heads.

* 1853 , , Bleak House , ch. 11:

Beadle goes into various shops and parlours, examining the inhabitants; always shutting the door first, and by exclusion, delay, and general idiotcy, exasperating the public.

* 1987 , " Woman of the Year: Corazon Aquino," Time , 5 Jan:

[S]he exasperates her security men by acting as if she were protected by some invisible shield.

* 2007 , " Loyal Mail," Times Online (UK), 4 June (retrieved 7 Oct 2010):

News that Adam Crozier, Royal Mail chief executive, is set to receive a bumper bonus will exasperate postal workers.

Verb

(en verb)

To make angry.

To make insane; to inflame with passion.

(obsolete) To become furious.

* {{quote-book, year=1855, title=Westward Ho!, author=Charles Kingsley citation

, passage=The rascal saw his advantage, and began a fierce harangue against the heretic strangers. As he maddened , his hearers maddened; the savage nature, capricious as a child's, flashed out in wild suspicion. Women yelled, men scowled, and ran hastily to their huts for bows and blow-guns.}}

* {{quote-book, year=1870, title=Irish folk lore, author=John O'Hanlon, page=71 citation

, passage=And as he maddened at the thought, honest Fergus, too, forgot himself, and added in an excited strain, " I wish one end o' the hog's puddin' was sthuck in yer nose, you foolish craythur!"}}