set by the ears

Alternative forms

 * set together by the ears (see quots. 1623, 1712)

Verb

 * 1)  To make (a person or persons) argue; to set quarrelling.
 * 2) * 1712, John Arbuthnot, “The History of John Bull”, in George A. Aitken, The Life and Works of John Arbuthnot, Clarendon Press (1892), page 225:
 * Then she used to carry tales and stories from one to another, till she had set the whole neighbourhood together by the ears; […]
 * 1) * 1862, “The Simonides Controversy”, in K. Simonides, The Periplus of Hannon, Trübner & Co. (1864), page 42:
 * never did any man possess in so extraordinary a degree the faculty of setting people by the ears, of provoking dissension, and of creating strife.
 * 1) * 1913, Fairfax Cartwright, in T. G. Otte, July Crisis, Cambridge University Press (2014), ISBN 9781107064904, page 140:
 * Servia will some day set Europe by the ears and bring about a universal war on the Continent, […]
 * Servia will some day set Europe by the ears and bring about a universal war on the Continent, […]