to worsen a conflict between people; to inflame an already tense situation, to add fuel to the fire · Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see olie, vuur, gooien.
köken: Literal translation: throw oil on the fire.
In plaats van zich te verontschuldigen besloot hij olie op het vuur te gooien.
making someone or something even stronger, adding a decisive advantage · making a bad situation worse
eş: 鬼に金梃, 鬼に鉄杖, 虎に翼, 弁慶に薙刀, 獅子に鰭, 竜に翼を得たる如し
köken: 鬼 (oni) + に (ni) + 金棒 (kanabō). Literally "[giving] a metal club to a demon". The idiom in general is first cited in a text from 1472 as the longer variant 鬼に金砕棒 (oni ni kana saibō); this shorter form is cited from 1645.
to add fuel to the fire (to worsen an already bad situation)
köken: olaj (“oil”) + -at (accusative suffix) + önt (“to pour”) + a (“the”) + tűz (“fire”) + -re (“on”, case suffix), literally “to pour oil on the fire”
add fuel to the fire; escalating an already tense situation
ఆ కామెంట్స్ కాంగ్రెస్కు భారీ డ్యామేజ్ చేశాయని సొంత పార్టీ నేతలే అగ్గి మీద గుగ్గిలం అవుతున్నారు.
cmn火上加油, 火上澆油 /火上浇油
shdolivati ulje na vatru, доливати уље на ватру
Etimoloji
Literally "to pour gasoline on flames". A modern alteration of the now-rarer form kaataa öljyä liekkeihin (“to pour oil on flames”), calquing (directly or via another language) Latin oleum camino addo (“to add oil to the furnace”).