stir up a hornet’s nest
stir up a hornet’s nest
Meaning
- to create trouble
- to cause an uproar
- to cause an upheaval
- a commotion which possibly ends in anger and frustration
Example Sentences
- When the auditor asked for more shreds evidence, the treasury department stirred up a hornet’s nest because they did not have more. This is how the fraud was actually revealed.
- He always comes home and stirs up a Hornet’s nest when his school day has not gone well. His mother then makes something nice to eat for him to calm down.
- It is a shame that every time such an atrocious act happens it stirs up a Hornet’s nest. Instead, women should be provided with more protection and security that such incidents do not take place at all.
- The lawyer stirred up a Hornet’s nest when his client was not released even after he had provided the bail papers. He called the judge directly to speak about the matter.
Origin
The phrase dates back from the 1700s and relates to the anger that hornets show as a metaphor for causing a commotion. The exact literary origin is unavailable but the phrase has been used by many authors for fictional as well as non-fictional work.
See also: hornet’s nest
Share your opinions4 Opinions
Trying to relate this idiom with the wordings, but seems quite puzzling as origin is unclear, in which context was used originally .
‒ Zulfiqar Qazi March 6, 2021
Synonyms of stir up a hornet nest:
‒ Saroj Pensia June 3, 2020
No literary device, why? How are we to know what figure of speech it falls under. 🤷
‒ Anonymous November 19, 2017
This is no better to make reasoning, writing and our cultural heritage more elaborate, interesting and inter-connected than this platform.
‒ Aminu Tunde April 15, 2017