Get the needle

I'm not aware of any idiomatic meaning.

I think I know its meaning, since I've heard it a few times in movies about police work (I think it was Cold Case).

As you know, in the USA they execute people by lethal injection. And when you get the needle, you're sentenced to death by lethal injection.


Maybe someone knows better.

The first thing that occurred to me was the old Sherlock Holmes movie staring Basil Rathbone (I don't remember which one) where, near the end, Holmes tells Watson to "get the needle." It's never made clear exactly what Holmes means but it is presumably a reference to his drug use.

RayHThe first thing that occurred to me was the old Sherlock Holmes movie staring Basil Rathbone (I don't remember which one) where, near the end, Holmes tells Watson to "get the needle." It's never made clear exactly what Holmes means but it is presumably a reference to his drug use.


Hi, Ray

Do you agree with my interpretation ?

Hi

I have heard - get the needle - used to mean be/get annoyed

What's the matter with him?
I don't know he's got the needle over/about something.

and when someone appears to be annoyed - I have heard -

OK, there's no need to get the needle.

Many thanks to all of you.

...yet the mystery remains unsolved! Why is this term not in my dictionaries?

Tom

MrPernicketyDo you agree with my interpretation ?

Yes, the expression is quite common in crime dramas in both TV shows and movies although I doubt real police use it much.

What's that!?

This is from the Free Online Dictionary:

have or get the needle (to) Brit informal to feel dislike, distaste, nervousness, or annoyance (for) she got the needle after he had refused her invitation