All 21 Uses of

provoke
in
Wuthering Heights

My caress provoked a long, guttural gnarl.†
p. 3.9

provoked = caused (a reaction)

I warn you to refrain from provoking me, or I'll ask your abduction as a special favour!†
p. 10.3

provoking = causing (a reaction)

His peevish reproofs wakened in her a naughty delight to provoke him: she was never so happy as when we were all scolding her at once, and she defying us with her bold, saucy look, and her ready words; turning Joseph's religious curses into ridicule, baiting me, and doing just what her father hated most — showing how her pretended insolence, which he thought real, had more power over Heathcliff than his kindness: how the boy would do HER bidding in anything, and HIS only when it suited his own inclination.†
p. 29.7

provoke = cause (a reaction)

I went to hide little Hareton, and to take the shot out of the master's fowling-piece, which he was fond of playing with in his insane excitement, to the hazard of the lives of any who provoked, or even attracted his notice too much; and I had hit upon the plan of removing it, that he might do less mischief if he did go the length of firing the gun.†
p. 51.9

provoked = caused (a reaction)

Heathcliff had never been heard of since the evening of the thunder-storm; and, one day, I had the misfortune, when she had provoked me exceedingly, to lay the blame of his disappearance on her: where indeed it belonged, as she well knew.†
p. 63.9

Should the meanest thing alive slap me on the cheek, I'd not only turn the other, but I'd ask pardon for provoking it; and, as a proof, I'll go make my peace with Edgar instantly.†
p. 72.4

provoking = causing (a reaction)

'Have you been listening at the door, Edgar?' asked the mistress, in a tone particularly calculated to provoke her husband, implying both carelessness and contempt of his irritation.†
p. 82.9

provoke = cause (a reaction)

To this point he has been discreet in dreading to provoke me; you must represent the peril of quitting that policy, and remind him of my passionate temper, verging, when kindled, on frenzy.†
p. 85.4

I remember being in the parlour after they had quarrelled, and Edgar being cruelly provoking, and me running into this room desperate.†
p. 90.8

provoking = causing (a reaction)

But, at last, I think she begins to know me: I don't perceive the silly smiles and grimaces that provoked me at first; and the senseless incapability of discerning that I was in earnest when I gave her my opinion of her infatuation and herself.†
p. 109.8

provoked = caused (a reaction)

Whatever he may pretend, he wishes to provoke Edgar to desperation: he says he has married me on purpose to obtain power over him; and he sha'n't obtain it — I'll die first!†
p. 110.9

provoke = cause (a reaction)

He is quieter now than he used to be, if no one provokes him: more sullen and depressed, and less furious.†
p. 126.8

provokes = causes (a reaction)

I think I should not be peevish with you: you'd not provoke me, and you'd always be ready to help me, wouldn't you?'†
p. 173.3

provoke = cause (a reaction)

'That's too high,' murmured the provoking thing.†
p. 175.6

provoking = causing (a reaction)

Linton had certainly behaved provokingly: however, it was the business of nobody but me, and I interrupted Mr. Heathcliff's lecture by entering and telling him so.†
p. 185.2

provokingly = in a manner that causes a reaction

'DON'T provoke him against me, Catherine, for he is very hard.'†
p. 190.7

provoke = cause (a reaction)

Her magnanimity provoked his tears: he wept wildly, kissing her supporting hands, and yet could not summon courage to speak out.†
p. 194.3

provoked = caused (a reaction)

'And listen,' she continued, provokingly, commencing a verse of an old ballad in the same fashion.†
p. 219.5

provokingly = in a manner that causes a reaction

He dared not speak to her there: he dared hardly look; and yet she went on teasing, till he was twice on the point of being provoked to laugh.†
p. 230.9

provoked = caused (a reaction)

Definition:

to cause a reaction — often an emotional reaction like anger, and sometimes done on purpose