Twist the lion's tail verb phrase
To provoke a person, group, nation, ect.
He didn't mean to twist the lion's tail when he mentioned their weakness.
He deliberately twisted the lion's tail when he called the opposing team a loser.
To provoke the anger of someone
1.To deceive someone or not tell someone the truth so as to avoid responsibility for something
2. To insult or provoke someone
The verb “twist" should be conjugated according to its tense.
The American slang dates from 1985. Originally it was used to refer to the United Kingdom, its royal coat of arms features a lion.