exasperate

verb

1. (transitive)To tax the patience of; irk, frustrate, vex, provoke, annoy; to make angry.

   “And this report Hath so exasperate [sic] the king that he Prepares for some attempt of war.”

   “The picture represents a Cape-Horner in a great hurricane; the half-foundered ship weltering there with its three dismantled masts alone visible; and an exasperated whale, purposing to spring clean over the craft, is in the enormous act of impaling himself upon the three mast-heads.”

   “Beadle goes into various shops and parlours, examining the inhabitants; always shutting the door first, and by exclusion, delay, and general idiotcy, exasperating the public.”

   “[S]he exasperates her security men by acting as if she were protected by some invisible shield.”

   “News that Adam Crozier, Royal Mail chief executive, is set to receive a bumper bonus will exasperate postal workers.”

adj

1. (obsolete)Exasperated.

   “And this report Hath ſo exaſperate their King, that hee Prepares for ſome attempt of Warre.”

2. (obsolete)Exasperated; embittered.

   “Thersites. Do I curse thee? Patroclus. Why no, you ruinous butt, you whoreson indistinguishable cur, no. Thersites. No! why art thou then exasperate, thou idle immaterial skein of sleave-silk […]”

   “Like swallows which the exasperate dying year Sets spinning […]”