give a hard time

Mr. Macron studiously used the word “emmerder,” which is translated literally as “to mire in excrement” and means to “annoy” or “to give a hard time to.”

He isn’t one to banter too much and certainly not give a hard time to the veteran players.

“One day when I’m done working with the Timberwolves, we can have that conversation. How’s that? Otherwise that gives guys too much ammunition if they ever read the article or anything like that. They’ll give a hard time too much.”

"Even when it's gone I try and give a hard time for the hitter. A couple guys around the league always get mad at me because I act like I'm gonna catch the ball and they get a little heart attack before it's even a home run. I like to have fun with the game."

We knew that we would give a hard time to every team that came to Anfield and that is exactly what happened.