get one's shirt out

present singular third person gets one's shirt out · participle present getting one's shirt out · past got one's shirt out · UK participle past got one's shirt out · US participle past gotten one's shirt out

1. datedidiomaticTo become angry or annoyed; to lose one's temper.

   "All right, sir, all right," said Chizzlem, lighting a huge cigar; "there it is, don't get your shirt out about it. I daresay I'll get along well enough without you. Though why you should be ashamed at what some of the flyest men do regularly, I can't tell."

   1883, Robert Harborough Sherard, A Bartered Honour: A Novel, Volume 1, Remington, page 183

   1 more example

   I dare him, says he, and I doubledare him to send you round here again or if he does, says he, I'll have him summonsed up before the court, so I will, for trading without a licence. And he after stuffing himself till he's fit to burst. Jesus, I had to laugh at the little jewy getting his shirt out.

   1922, James Joyce, Ulysses, Episode 12: The Cyclops