tickle the dragon's tail

idiomatic

(idiomatic) To do something that has a risk of going catastrophically wrong. / (idiomatic) To annoy an irritable person.

Japanese Meaning

（予期せぬ大災害を招くリスクを伴う行動を試みる） / （怒りっぽい人物をわざと刺激して、怒りを爆発させる）

Before approving the merger, remember we shouldn't tickle the dragon's tail by ignoring the auditors' findings.

合併を承認する前に、監査人の指摘を無視して破滅につながりかねない無謀なリスクを冒さないようにしてください。

Sense（1）

(idiomatic) To do something that has a risk of going catastrophically wrong.

Climbing so close to an erupting volcano was tickling the dragon's tail.

Sense（2）

(idiomatic) To annoy an irritable person.

Don't tell him the headline's misprinted; you don't want to tickle the dragon's tail.

Sense（3）

(physics) To bring two subcritical masses close together in order to find the edge of criticality.

The laboratory head tickles the dragon's tail whenever we have guests as a show of machismo.

tickles the dragon's tail

（ present singular third-person ）

tickling the dragon's tail

（ participle present ）

tickled the dragon's tail

（ participle past ）

tickled the dragon's tail

（ past ）