nab the rust

English

Verb

nab the rust (third-person singular simple present nabs the rust, present participle nabbing the rust, simple past and past participle nabbed the rust)

1. (UK, slang, obsolete) To take offense; to become upset.
   • 1807, The Port Folio, page 313:

     […] did not choose to comply with her wishes. Upon which Mrs. Basset, in the language of the Old Bailey, nabbed the rust; insisted upon some liquor, would not quit the house without it, and began to blow up the hostess and blast the rose.

   • 1968, Georgette Heyer, The Unknown Ajax, page 155:

     Spurstow discovered it, of course, and nabbed the rust. He went off to Rye, ran Ottershaw to earth in the Ship, and asked him what the devil he meant by it.

References

• John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary