red rag

Just now the very mention of the highgrader's name was a red rag to his temper.

Johannesburg was still a red rag to the Government, and I would be sure to meet with a rebuff.

In temperament a fanatic, in impulse a born revolutionist, the word conservatism was to him as a red rag to a bull.

At each charge the matador bounds aside, and the beast worries the red rag.

A strong mind, whether in man or woman, has always been to the clergy as a red rag to a bull.