get one's knickers in a twist

Knickers (Britain, New Zealand) are women’s underpants, though this phrase is sometimes used to describe men as well as women.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌɡɛt wʌnz ˈnɪ.kəz ɪn‿ə ˈtwɪst/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌɡɪt wʌnz ˈnɪ.kɚz ɪn‿ə ˈtwɪst/
• Rhymes: -ɪst
• Hyphenation: get one's knick‧ers in a twist

get one's knickers in a twist (third-person singular simple present gets one's knickers in a twist, present participle getting one's knickers in a twist, simple past and past participle got one's knickers in a twist)

1. (idiomatic, Britain, Ireland, humorous, informal) To become overwrought or unnecessarily upset over a trivial matter.

   Synonyms: get one's knickers in a knot, get one's panties in a bunch, get one's panties in a wad, get one's panties in a pretzel, get one's shorts in a knot, get one's undies in a bundle

• get one's tits in a wringer
• nose out of joint

• “to get one's knickers in a twist, phrase” under “twist, n.¹”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2021.
• “get one's knickers in a twist, phrase”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.