2. To excite anger or displeasure in; to provoke; to tease; to exasperate; to annoy; to vex; as, the insolence
of a tyrant irritates his subjects.
Dismiss the man, nor irritate the god:
Prevent the rage of him who reigns above.
Pope. 3. (Physiol.) To produce irritation in; to stimulate; to cause to contract. See Irritation, n., 2.
4. (Med.) To make morbidly excitable, or oversensitive; to fret; as, the skin is irritated by friction; to irritate
a wound by a coarse bandage.
Syn. — To fret; inflame; excite; provoke; tease; vex; exasperate; anger; incense; enrage. — To Irritate, Provoke,
Exasperate. These words express different stages of excited or angry feeling. Irritate denotes an excitement
of quick and slightly angry feeling which is only momentary; as, irritated by a hasty remark. To provoke
implies the awakening of some open expression of decided anger; as, a provoking insult. Exasperate
denotes a provoking of anger at something unendurable. Whatever comes across our feelings irritates; whatever
excites anger provokes; whatever raises anger to a high point exasperates. "Susceptible and nervous
people are most easily irritated; proud people are quickly provoked; hot and fiery people are soonest
exasperated." Crabb.
Irritate
(Ir"ri*tate) a. Excited; heightened. [Obs.]
Irritation
(Ir`ri*ta"tion) n. [L. irritatio: cf. F. irritation.]
1. The act of irritating, or exciting, or the state of being irritated; excitement; stimulation, usually of an
undue and uncomfortable kind; especially, excitement of anger or passion; provocation; annoyance; anger.
The whole body of the arts and sciences composes one vast machinery for the irritation and development
of the human intellect.
De Quincey. 2. (Physiol.) The act of exciting, or the condition of being excited to action, by stimulation; — as, the
condition of an organ of sense, when its nerve is affected by some external body; esp., the act of exciting
muscle fibers to contraction, by artificial stimulation; as, the irritation of a motor nerve by electricity; also,
the condition of a muscle and nerve, under such stimulation.
3. (Med.) A condition of morbid excitability or oversensitiveness of an organ or part of the body; a state
in which the application of ordinary stimuli produces pain or excessive or vitiated action.
Irritative
(Ir"ri*ta*tive) a.
1. Serving to excite or irritate; irritating; as, an irritative agent.
2. Accompanied with, or produced by, increased action or irritation; as, an irritative fever. E. Darwin.
Irritatory
(Ir"ri*ta*to*ry) a. Exciting; producing irritation; irritating. [R.] Hales.
Irrorate
(Ir"ro*rate) v. t. [imp. & p. p. Irrorated ; p. pr. & vb. n. Irrorating.] [L. irroratus, p. p. of
irrorare to bedew; pref. ir- in + ros, roris, dew.] To sprinkle or moisten with dew; to bedew. [Obs.]
Irrorate
(Ir"ro*rate) a. (Zoöl.) Covered with minute grains, appearing like fine sand.
Irroration
(Ir`ro*ra"tion) n. [Cf. F. irroration.] The act of bedewing; the state of being moistened with
dew. [Obs.] Chambers.
Irrotational
(Ir`ro*ta"tion*al) a. (Physics) Not rotatory; passing from one point to another by a movement
other than rotation; — said of the movement of parts of a liquid or yielding mass. Sir W. Thomson.
