give someone the shits

present singular third person gives someone the shits · participle present giving someone the shits · past gave someone the shits · participle past given someone the shits

1. AustraliacolloquialvulgarTo annoy or frustrate someone to a great degree.

   Can you stop sending me text messages at two in the morning? You're giving me the shits!

   4 more examples

   ‘You give me the shits,’ I stammered, sick with anger. ‘You give me the shits.’

   1977, Helen Garner, Monkey Grip, ReadHowYouWant, published 2011, page 222

   “You know the Aussies are shit and they give me the shits. My taxi, when they come, I say, fuck you. I never let them in. You Indians are good people. Are you here for business or for pleasure?″

   2008, Arunesh Choubey, The Migrant, India, →ISBN, page 17

   Women who are too damn sensitive give me the shits. Every single damn thing that comes out of your mouth is wrong. You can't say a damn thing without getting into an argument.

   2008, R. Smart, Sinners Have a Soul Too, page 488

   When I questioned if she was OK, she said, “Yeah I'm fine now Miss. This chick has been giving me the shits for ages so I put her head inside a clothes dryer. It's fine now.”

   2011, Bronnie Ware, The Top Five Regrets of the Dying: A Life Transformed by the Dearly Departing, page 194

   Synonyms: boil someone's piss, piss off, aggravate, annoy, nettle, rankle, ruffle, sting

2. vulgarTo creep someone out; to scare someone.

   Can you stop perching on the cliff ledge? You're giving me the shits!

   3 more examples

   This feeling of being the last man on earth is giving me the shits.

   1996, Peter Rimmer, Cry of the Fish Eagle, page 16

   He saw the driver shut off the power, and stare upwards in horror, and that really gave him the shits[…]

   2008, Philip Packham, Thompson (with a 'p'), page 216

   Yet Amos knew Varney stirred strange sensations inside most people, something that would grab an ordinary man by the gut and gave him the shits.

   2011, Denise A. Agnew, Before the Dawn, page 47

   Synonyms: scare the shit out of, alarm, affright, appall, dismay, fray, frighten, grill

3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: cause diarrhea.

   Can you stop ignoring the health code requirements for commercial kitchens? You're giving everyone the shits!