push someone's buttons

• press someone's buttons

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Which sense of “button”? When did the expression originate?”)

push someone's buttons (third-person singular simple present pushes someone's buttons, present participle pushing someone's buttons, simple past and past participle pushed someone's buttons)

1. (informal) To do specific things to anger someone (or, less commonly, to sexually arouse or otherwise elicit a strong reaction from them), especially intentionally or maliciously.

   You really knew how to push my buttons.

   • 2019 April 10, Cheryl Maguire, “How to Stop Thinking Your Teen Is ‘Pushing Your Buttons’”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:

     I end up cleaning up after her, which I’ve repeatedly told her makes me upset. She’s a smart, talented kid. So why does she keep pushing my buttons?

• Particularly used of actions that affect the recipient but not other people, such as bringing up a particular upsetting topic or performing an irritating activity.

• trigger (“to spark a response”)

• get on someone's nerves
• pet peeve
• push the right buttons