Provoke, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Provoked; p. pr. & vb. n. Provoking.]
Etymology: [F. provoquer, L. provocare to call forth; pro forth + vocare to call, fr. vox, vocis, voice, cry, call. See Voice.]
To call forth; to call into being or action; esp., to incense to action, a faculty or passion, as love, hate, or ambition; hence, commonly, to incite, as a person, to action by a challenge, by taunts, or by defiance; to exasperate; to irritate; to offend intolerably; to cause to retaliate. Obey his voice, provoke him not. Ex. xxiii. 21. Ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath. Eph. vi. 4. Such acts Of contumacy will provoke the Highest To make death in us live. Milton. Can honor's voice provoke the silent dust Gray. To the poet the meaning is what he pleases to make it, what it provokes in his own soul. J. Burroughs.
Syn. -- To irritate; arouse; stir up; awake; excite; incite; anger. See Irritate.
1 other Webster entry under this spelling
Provoke, v. i.
1. To cause provocation or anger.
2. To appeal.
Note: [A Latinism] [Obs.] Dryden.