3 definitions found
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Provoke \Pro*voke"\, v. i.
1. To cause provocation or anger.
2. To appeal.
Note: [A Latinism] [Obs.] --Dryden.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Provoke \Pro*voke"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Provoked}; p. pr &
vb n. {Provoking}.] [F. provoquer L. provocare to call
forth; pro forth + vocare to call fr vox, vocis, voice,
cry, call See {Voice}.]
To call forth; to call into being or action esp., to incense
to action a faculty or passion, as love, hate, or ambition;
hence commonly, to incite, as a person, to action by a
challenge, by taunts, or by defiance; to exasperate; to
irritate; to offend intolerably; to cause to retaliate.
Obey his voice, provoke him not --Ex. xxiii.
21.
Ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath. --Eph.
vi 4.
Such acts Of contumacy will provoke the Highest To make
death in us live. --Milton.
Can honor's voice provoke the silent dust? --Gray.
To the poet the meaning is what he pleases to make it
what it provokes in his own soul. -- J.
Burroughs
Syn: To irritate; arouse; stir up awake; excite; incite;
anger. See {Irritate}.
From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]:
provoke
v 1: call forth; of emotions, feelings, and responses; "arouse
pity"; "raise a smile"; "evoke sympathy" [syn: {arouse},
{elicit}, {enkindle}, {kindle}, {evoke}, {fire}, {raise}]
2: call forth; "Her behavior provoked a quarrel between the
couple" [syn: {evoke}, {call forth}, {kick up}]
3: provide the needed stimulus for [syn: {stimulate}]
4: annoy continually or chronically; "He is known to harry his
staff when he is overworked" [syn: {harass}, {hassle}, {harry},
{chivy}, {chivvy}, {chevy}, {chevvy}, {beset}, {plague},
{molest}]
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