climb the walls

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Show extreme frustration, impatience, or anxiety, as in That long, boring banquet made me want to climb the walls, or If he says that one more time I'll be ready to climb the walls. Although describing a military maneuver dating from ancient times, this slangy phrase has been used figuratively to express strong negative feeling only since about 1970. Also see under drive someone crazy.

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Words nearby climb the walls

climbing irons, climbing perch, climbing rose, climbing wall, climb on the bandwagon, climb the walls, clime, clin., clinandrium, clinch, clincher

How to use climb the walls in a sentence

France 24 is providing live, round-the-clock coverage of both scenes as they progress.
LIVE Coverage of the Paris Terror Attacks||January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Sands was involved in a scandalous-for-the-time romance with the carpenter and there were rumors she was pregnant with his child.
New York’s Most Tragic Ghost Loves Minimalist Swedish Fashion|Nina Strochlic|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Three on-the-record stories from a family: a mother and her daughters who came from Phoenix.
I Tried to Warn You About Sleazy Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein in 2003|Vicky Ward|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The pilot asked air-traffic control for permission to climb from 32,000 to 38,000 feet to avoid the bad weather.
Wreckage, Bodies of AirAsia Crash Found|Lennox Samuels|December 30, 2014|DAILY BEAST

The Dallas Cowboys sell out their state-of-the art football stadium.
Will Texas Stay Texan?|David Fontana|December 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Charred beams and blackened walls showed stark and gaunt in the glow of a smoldering mass of wreckage.
The Red Year|Louis Tracy
Sleek finds it far harder work than fortune-making; but he pursues his Will-o'-the-Wisp with untiring energy.
The Pit Town Coronet, Volume I (of 3)|Charles James Wills
Some of the alarm returned, however, when the creature attempted to climb up by his own ladder.
The Giant of the North|R.M. Ballantyne
As his eye became accustomed to the gloom, David Arden saw traces of gilding on the walls.
Checkmate|Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
Walls End Castle, when the party broke up, returned to its normal state.
The Pit Town Coronet, Volume I (of 3)|Charles James Wills