climbed the walls
Felt intensely restless
Climbed the walls describes a state of extreme restlessness, anxiety, or frustration from being confined or forced to wait.
The image is of someone so agitated they're trying to escape by scaling vertical surfaces: I was climbing the walls waiting for the test results.
Often used with boredom or cabin fever: After three days snowed in, the kids were climbing the walls.
- franticWildly anxious or desperate
- cabin feverDistress from extended confinement
- clamberingAwkward, effortful climbing
- scalingClimbing or resizing
- wildNot domesticated or controlled
agitated · ascending · stir-crazy · grip · restless · can't sit still · frustrated · intense · anxious · on edge · up · exasperation · at wit's end · irritability · fretfulness · foothold · uncontrolled · reach
climbed the wallsbided one's time
Waited for right moment
patient · long-suffering · forbearing · resigned · accepting
climb, climbed, climbing, climbs, climber, climbers, climbable, wall, walls