pick a fight

• pick a quarrel

pick a fight (third-person singular simple present picks a fight, present participle picking a fight, simple past and past participle picked a fight)

1. To deliberately provoke someone into fighting.

• look for trouble

• “pick a fight”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
• “pick a fight”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “pick a fight quarrel with someone” (US) / “pick a fight quarrel with someone” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.
• “pick a quarrel fight with somebody” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.