See Also: gall(2)(dictionary)
gall(4)(dictionary)
gall(1)(dictionary)
Gall(health)
gall(5)(dictionary)
gall(3)(dictionary)
gall(encyclopedia)
Gall(medicine)
gall bladder(dictionary)
gall 1, noun(dictionary)

gall(1) (iou)



gall noun1.

1. The secretion of the liver, bile (exc. in certain combs. now only of the lower animals). Also, the type of an intensely bitter substance. OE.
E. Mannin The taste in his mouth was as bitter as gall.
b. fig. Bitterness; anything bitter. ME.
W. Irving The gall of disappointment.
2. The gall bladder and its contents. ME.
3. Bitterness of spirit, asperity, rancour (supposed to have its seat in the gall bladder). ME.
Gibbon The bitterness of religious gall.
b. Spirit to resent injury or insult. LME-E18.
4. Assurance, impudence. slang. Orig. US. L19.
J. Updike She had the gall to grin right in my face.
Phrases etc.: break someone's gall break the spirit of, cow. dip one's pen in gall write with virulence and rancour. gall of the earth any of various bitter plants, esp. centaury or (US) a rattlesnake-root, Prenanthes trifoliata. glass gall: see GLASS noun.
Comb.: gall bladder the organ which stores bile after its secretion by the liver; gall-sickness S. Afr. any of several diseases affecting the livers of livestock.
gall-less [-l-l-] adjective without gall or bitterness LME.