Raise some hackles

Correct — A, To annoy. 'Hackles' are the hairs along an animal's neck and back that stand up when it is angry or ready to fight; to raise someone's hackles is to provoke their anger or irritation, so option (a) 'to annoy' is the meaning.

Why the others are wrong

• (b)
  To make someone happy — This is the opposite feeling — raising hackles is about anger, not pleasing anyone.
• (c)
  To do a great task — Achievement is unrelated to the idiom, which is about causing irritation.
• (d)
  To sit idle — Idleness has no connection to the raised-hackles image of a roused, angry animal.

An idiom-meaning item — to 'raise hackles' is to make someone angry or annoyed, from the way an animal's neck hairs rise when it is provoked.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Choose the meaning of the idiom 'get on someone's nerves'.

  • (a)to please them
  • (b)to irritate or annoy them
  • (c)to help them
  • (d)to ignore them
  Answer(b) to irritate or annoy them — to be a persistent source of annoyance.
• practice — not a real PYQ

  Choose the meaning of the idiom 'ruffle someone's feathers'.

  • (a)to calm someone
  • (b)to upset or annoy someone
  • (c)to praise someone
  • (d)to forgive someone
  Answer(b) to upset or annoy someone — to disturb or irritate them, like ruffling a bird's plumage.