IR'RITATE, verb transitive [Latin irrito; in and ira, wrath.]

1. To excite heat and redness in the skin or flesh of living animal bodies, as by friction; to inflame; to fret; as, to irritate a wounded part by a coarse bandage.

2. To excite anger; to provoke; to tease; to exasperate. Never irritate a child for trifling faults. The insolence of a tyrant irritates his subjects.

3. To increase action or violence; to highten excitement in.

Air, if very cold, irritateth the flame.

4. To cause fibrous contractions in an extreme part of the sensorium, as by the appulse of an external body.