Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PRO-VOKE, v.t. [L. provoco, to call forth; pro and voco, to call; Fr. provoquer; It. provocare; Sp. provocar.]

1. To call into action; to arouse; to excite; as, to provoke anger or wrath by offensive words or by injury; to provoke war.
2. To make angry; to offend; to incense; to enrage. Ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath. – Eph. vi. Often provoked by the insolence of some of the bishops. – Clarendon.
3. To excite; to cause; as, to provoke perspiration; to provoke a smile. – Arbuthnot.
4. To excite; to stimulate; to increase. The taste of pleasure provokes the appetite, and every successive indulgence of vice which is to form a habit, is easier than the last. – Buckminster.
5. To challenge. He now provokes the sea-gods, from the shore. – Dryden.
6. To move; to incite; to stir up; to induce by motives. – Rom. x. Bacon. Let us consider one another to provoke to love and to good works. – Heb. x.
7. To incite; to rouse; as, to provoke one to anger. – Deut. xxxii.