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.
Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see heittää, löyly, kiuas. · to add fuel to the fire (worsen a conflict)
köken: A reference to being in a sauna. Throwing water on the sauna stove causes it to boil, which increases the humidity and thus the apparent room temperature.
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”