get the wind up

verb

To become frightened or disturbed.

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Meanings

verbget the wind up (third-person singular simple present gets the wind up, present participle getting the wind up, simple past got the wind up, past participle got the wind up or gotten the wind up)

present singular third person gets the wind up · participle present getting the wind up · past got the wind up · participle past got the wind up · participle past gotten the wind up

  1. UKidiomaticTo become frightened or disturbed.

    Mustn't answer the door, mustn't touch the telephone, mustn't stir out of the house—I ask you now, George, what's likely to be the end of this sort of thing when her people get the wind up?

    1934, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], The Bravo of London
Cite this entry
APA

get the wind up. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/get%20the%20wind%20up

MLA

“get the wind up.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/get%20the%20wind%20up. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “get the wind up,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/get%20the%20wind%20up.

Source: get the wind up on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.