English Explanatory Dictionary

gall

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. Impudence or brazenness; temerity; chutzpah.
  2. A gallbladder.
  3. Bile, especially that of an animal; the greenish, profoundly bitter-tasting fluid found in bile ducts and gall bladders, structures associated with the liver.
  4. Great misery or physical suffering, likened to the bitterest-tasting of substances.
noun
  1. A sore on a horse caused by an ill-fitted or ill-adjusted saddle; a saddle sore.
  2. A sore or open wound caused by chafing, which may become infected, as with a blister.
  3. A feeling of exasperation.
  4. A pit on a surface being cut caused by the friction between the two surfaces exceeding the bond of the material at a point.
verb
  1. To chafe, to rub or subject to friction; to create a sore on the skin.
  2. To bother or trouble.
  3. To harass, to harry, often with the intent to cause injury.
  4. To exasperate.
  5. To cause pitting on a surface being cut from the friction between the two surfaces exceeding the bond of the material at a point.
  6. To scoff; to jeer.
noun
  1. A blister or tumor-like growth found on the surface of plants, caused by various pathogens, especially the burrowing of insect larvae into the living tissues, such as that of the common oak gall wasp (Cynips quercusfolii).
  2. A bump-like imperfection resembling a gall.
verb
  1. To impregnate with a decoction of gallnuts in dyeing.
name
  1. A surname.

Pronunciation

/ɡɔːl/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-gall.wav /ɡɑl/

Word forms

gall galls galling galled

Etymology

From Middle English galle, from Old English ġealla, galla, from Proto-West Germanic *gallā, from Proto-Germanic *gallǭ. The figurative senses (e.g., impudence, brazenness, chutzpah) are related to the literal sense (i.e., bile) via the lasting linguocultural effects of humorism, which governed Western medicine for many centuries before the advent of scientific medicine. Related to Dutch gal, German Galle, Swedish galle, galla, Ancient Greek χολή (kholḗ). Also remotely related with yellow and gold.

Synonyms

rankle nutgall

Related words

gall dang

Derived words

gall and wormwood gallbladder gall-less gallless gall-of-the-earth gallstone gally galsome oxgall scroll-gall vent one's gall navel gall water-gall begall galler Aleppo gall apple gall artichoke gall bedeguar gall beech gall cane gall Chinese gall cola-nut gall coral gall cranberry gall crown gall cup gall currant gall cypress gall elm gall filbert gall fungus gall gallapple gallbush gallflower gallfly gall gnat gallic gallicolous gallification gall midge gall mite gallnut gall-nut ink gall oak gall of glass gallogen gallsickness gall wasp goldenrod gall gouty gall horned oak gall iron-gall ink knee gall knopper gall leaf-gall marble gall meadowsweet rust gall mossy rose gall nutgall
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on G Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary