climb the walls

1. 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.

Example Sentences

Does your cat climb the walls?

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“If I owned a home, I would probably let the plants climb the walls” until they needed repainting again, she says.

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“I would love to have a living wall someday,” Stewart says of the practice of allowing plants to climb the walls themselves.

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Shrapnel scars climb the walls, and almost every window is shattered.

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"We saw this immense black river that was dragging along everything, we had to climb the walls to escape," said resident Alba Cotacachi, who evacuated her two young daughters from their home.

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