gall

Meaning

Noun

1. (uncountable) Impudence or brazenness; temerity; chutzpah.
2. (archaic, countable) A gallbladder.
3. (archaic, uncountable) 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. (figuratively, uncountable) Great misery or physical suffering, likened to the bitterest-tasting of substances.

Verb

1. (ergative) To chafe, to rub or subject to friction; to create a sore on the skin.
2. (figuratively, transitive) To bother or trouble.
3. (figuratively, transitive) To harass, to harry, often with the intent to cause injury.
4. (figuratively, transitive) To exasperate.
5. (transitive) 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. (intransitive, obsolete, rare) To scoff; to jeer.

Verb

To impregnate with a decoction of gallnuts in dyeing.

Synonyms

bile

gall bladder

bitterness

vex

nerve

chafe

impudence

audacity

fret

irk

rancor

rile

resentment

saddle sore

provoke

nettle

peeve

irritate

exasperate

anger

💢

impertinence

malice

aggravate

insolence

spite

tease

bug

🐛

brazenness

annoyance

cheekiness

temerity

ruffle

spleen

vexation

bother

pique

rancour

miff

bilious

molest

abrasion

crust

jaundice

get

freshness

chafing

chaff

arrogance

affront

fray

Translations

bile

bile

Galle

gal

bilis

χολή

fiel

fiele

galle

bilis

hiel

bilis

bílis

agalla

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ɡɔːl/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: galle

Inherited from Old English: ġealla

Cognate with Dutch: gal

Cognate with German: Galle

Cognate with Swedish: galle

Cognate with Ancient Greek: χολή

Inherited from Old English: gealla

In summary

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.