gall

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See also gäll, and Gall

Contents

English [edit]

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Pronunciation [edit]

Etymology 1 [edit]

From Old English ġealla, related to Proto-Germanic *gallō. Cognate with Dutch gal, German Galle, Swedish galle, galla. There may also be influence from Old English geolu (“yellow”).

Noun [edit]

gall (countable and uncountable; plural galls)

  1. (anatomy, obsolete, 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.
  2. (anatomy) The gall bladder.
  3. (uncountable, obsolete) Great misery or physical suffering, likened to the bitterest-tasting of substances.
  4. (countable) A bump-like imperfection resembling a gall.
    • 1653, Izaak Walton, The Compleat Angler, Chapter 21
      But first for your Line. First note, that you are to take care that your hair be round and clear, and free from galls, or scabs, or frets: for a well- chosen, even, clear, round hair, of a kind of glass-colour, will prove as strong as three uneven scabby hairs that are ill-chosen, and full of galls or unevenness. You shall seldom find a black hair but it is round, but many white are flat and uneven; therefore, if you get a lock of right, round, clear, glass-colour hair, make much of it.
  5. (uncountable) A feeling of exasperation.
  6. (uncountable) Impudence or brazenness; temerity, chutzpah.
    • 1917, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Oakdale Affair, Chapter 6
      “Durn ye!” he cried. “I’ll lam ye! Get offen here. I knows ye. Yer one o’ that gang o’ bums that come here last night, an’ now you got the gall to come back beggin’ for food, eh? I’ll lam ye!” and he raised the gun to his shoulder.
  7. (medicine, obsolete, countable) A sore or open wound caused by chafing, which may become infected, as with a blister.
    • 1892, Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself”, Leaves of Grass
      And remember perfectly well his revolving eyes and his awkwardness, / And remember putting plasters on the galls of his neck and ankles;
  8. (countable) A sore on a horse caused by an ill-fitted or ill-adjusted saddle; a saddle sore.
  9. (countable) A pit caused on a surface being cut caused by the friction between the two surfaces exceeding the bond of the material at a point.
Derived terms [edit]
Translations [edit]
bile
gall bladder
great misery or physical suffering
bump-like imperfection
feeling of exasperation
impudence or brazenness
sore or open wound caused by chafing
sore on a horse
pit caused on a surface caused by friction between the surfaces

Verb [edit]

gall (third-person singular simple present galls, present participle galling, simple past and past participle galled)

  1. (transitive) To trouble or bother.
  2. To harass, to harry, often with the intent to cause injury.
    • June 24, 1778, George Washington, The Writings of George Washington From the Original Manuscript Sources: Volume 12, 1745–1799
      The disposition for these detachments is as follows – Morgans corps, to gain the enemy’s right flank; Maxwells brigade to hang on their left. Brigadier Genl. Scott is now marching with a very respectable detachment destined to gall the enemys left flank and rear.
  3. To chafe, to rub or subject to friction; to create a sore on the skin.
    • 1719, Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe
      …he went awkwardly in these clothes at first: wearing the drawers was very awkward to him, and the sleeves of the waistcoat galled his shoulders and the inside of his arms; but a little easing them where he complained they hurt him, and using himself to them, he took to them at length very well.
  4. To exasperate.
    • 1979, Mark Bowden, “Captivity Pageant”, The Atlantic, Volume 296, No. 5, pp. 92-97, December, 1979
      Metrinko was hungry, but he was galled by how self-congratulatory his captors seemed, how generous and noble and proudly Islamic.
  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.
    Improper cooling and a dull milling blade on titanium can gall the surface
Translations [edit]

to trouble or bother
to harass, harry
to chafe
to exasperate
to cause pitting on a surface

Etymology 2 [edit]

From French galle, from Latin galla (“oak-apple”).

Noun [edit]

gall (plural galls)

  1. (countable) A blister or tumor-like growth found on the surface of plants, caused by burrowing of insect larvae into the living tissues, especially that of the common oak gall wasp (Cynips quercusfolii).
    • 1974, Philip P. Wiener (ed.), Dictionary of the History of Ideas
      Even so, Redi retained a belief that in certain other cases—the origin of parasites inside the human or animal body or of grubs inside of oak galls—there must be spontaneous generation. Bit by bit the evidence grew against such views. In 1670 Jan Swammerdam, painstaking student of the insect’s life cycle, suggested that the grubs in galls were enclosed in them for the sake of nourishment and must come from insects that had inserted their semen or their eggs into the plants.
Synonyms [edit]
Derived terms [edit]
Translations [edit]
blister or tumor-like growth found on the surface of plants

Catalan [edit]

Etymology [edit]

From Latin gallus.

Noun [edit]

gall m (plural galls)

  1. rooster, cock

See also [edit]

Hungarian [edit]

Pronunciation [edit]

  • Hyphenation: gall

Adjective [edit]

gall (not comparable)

  1. Gallic (of or pertaining to Gaul, its people or language)

Noun [edit]

gall (plural gallok)

  1. Gaul (person)
  2. (singular only) Gaul (language)

Related terms [edit]

Scottish Gaelic [edit]

Noun [edit]

gall m (genitive and plural goill)

  1. Alternative form of Gall.
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