put the wind up

verb

To frighten or disturb.

“P. G. Wodehouse I find it extraordinarily difficult to explain why it is that she has always put the wind up me to such a frightful extent.”

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Meanings

verbput the wind up (third-person singular simple present puts the wind up, present participle putting the wind up, simple past and past participle put the wind up)

present singular third person puts the wind up · participle present putting the wind up

  1. UKambitransitiveinformalTo frighten or disturb.

    P. G. Wodehouse I find it extraordinarily difficult to explain why it is that she has always put the wind up me to such a frightful extent.

    1 more example

    They found out that I had gone somewhere, couldn't get in touch, and that put the wind up and they began to imagine everything.

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

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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