try one's patience
try (one's) patience
To frustrate or annoy one by continued unwanted behavior; to test the limits of one's patience. His tangential questions are clearly trying the professor's patience, who asked that all questions be held until the end of the lecture. Will you take the kids to the playground for an hour? They're really trying my patience.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2022 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
try one's patience
Put one's tolerance to a severe test, cause one to be annoyed, as in Putting these parts together really tries my patience, or Her constant lateness tries our patience. This idiom uses try in the sense of "test," a usage dating from about 1300.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.