gall

¹

[ gawl ]

noun

1. impudence; effrontery.

   Synonyms: cheek, brass, audacity, nerve

2. bile, especially that of an animal.
3. something bitter or severe.
4. bitterness of spirit; rancor.

gall

²

[ gawl ]

verb (used with object)

1. to vex or irritate greatly:

   His arrogant manner galls me.

2. to make sore by rubbing; chafe severely:

   The saddle galled the horse's back.

verb (used without object)

1. to be or become chafed.
2. Machinery. (of either of two engaging metal parts) to lose metal to the other because of heat or molecular attraction resulting from friction.
3. Metallurgy. (of a die or compact in powder metallurgy) to lose surface material through adhesion to the die.

noun

1. something very vexing or irritating.
2. a state of vexation or irritation.
3. a sore on the skin, especially of a horse, due to rubbing; excoriation.

gall

³

[ gawl ]

noun

1. any abnormal vegetable growth or excrescence on a plant, caused by various agents, as insects, nematodes, fungi, bacteria, viruses, chemicals, and mechanical injuries.

Gall

⁴

[ gawl ]

noun

1. Pizi, 1840?–94, leader of the Hunkpapa Sioux: a major chief in the battle of Little Bighorn.

gall

¹

/ ɡɔːl /

noun

1. an abnormal outgrowth in plant tissue caused by certain parasitic insects, fungi, bacteria, or mechanical injury

gall

²

/ ɡɔːl /

noun

1. a sore on the skin caused by chafing
2. something that causes vexation or annoyance

   a gall to the spirits

3. irritation; exasperation

verb

1. pathol to abrade (the skin, etc) as by rubbing
2. tr to irritate or annoy; vex

gall

³

/ ɡɔːl /

noun

1. informal.
   impudence
2. bitterness; rancour
3. something bitter or disagreeable
4. See bile
   physiol an obsolete term for bile 1
5. See gall bladder
   an obsolete term for gall bladder

gall.

⁴

abbreviation for

1. gallon

gall

/ gôl /

1. An abnormal swelling of plant tissue, caused by injury or by parasitic organisms such as insects, mites, nematodes, and bacteria. Parasites stimulate the production of galls by secreting chemical irritants on or in the plant tissue. Galls stimulated by egg-laying parasites typically provide a protective environment in which the eggs can hatch and the pupae develop, and they usually do only minor damage to the host plant. Gall-stimulating fungi and microorganisms, such as the bacterium that causes crown gall, are generally considered to be plant diseases.

Other Words From

• un·galled adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of gall¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English galle, gal “gallbladder; bitter taste; rancor; poison,” Old English gealla “bile”; cognate with German Galle; akin to Latin fel, Greek cholḗ, chólos “gall, bile”; gall ²( def )

Origin of gall²

First recorded before 1000; Middle English gal(l)e, gaul(e) “sore (on the skin); stain, impurity; barren spot (in a field),” Old English gealla “an abrasion or sore (on a horse)”; possibly from Latin galla “nutgall”; possibly the same as gall ¹( def ), the senses developing from “bile” to “poison” to “(poisonous) sore” to “stain”; gall ³( def )

Origin of gall³

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English galle, from Middle French, from Latin galla “gallnut”; gall ²

Word History and Origins

Origin of gall¹

C14: from Old French galle, from Latin galla

Origin of gall²

C14: of Germanic origin; related to Old English gealla sore on a horse, and perhaps to gall ¹

Origin of gall³

from Old Norse, replacing Old English gealla; related to Old High German galla, Greek kholē

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. gall and wormwood, bitterness of spirit; deep resentment.

Example Sentences

The titular diaries were published in 1989, two years after Warhol died at 58 due to complications from a gall bladder surgery.

From Washington Blade

It’s personal to them … wanting to play with some moxie and gall.

From Washington Post

Then I had the gall not only to return but, once in Russia, to release an investigation about Putin’s own corruption.

From Time

Tutu had the gall to demand we also sup with our enemies—make ourselves known to each other in what Pope Francis later described as a culture of encounter.

From Time

During the spring and summer of 2020, while in treatment for liver cancer, she was also hospitalized for a gall bladder condition and a bile-duct repair.

From Time

As far as I know, however, only Gall managed to find a source to verify this.

From The Daily Beast

The unmitigated gall Kennedy displays in defaming the hard work of dedicated researchers is bad enough.

From The Daily Beast

When NYC Prep premiered, it got a lot of flak for the sheer gall of its unreality.

From The Daily Beast

The pair have a wedding story for the ages: “We were married in the hospital after my emergency gall bladder removal!”

From The Daily Beast

And you even had the gall to claim to have turned a new leaf in the pinstripes.

From The Daily Beast

There are no chains to my prison, no steel cuffs to gall the limbs, no guards to threaten and cow me.

From Project Gutenberg

Woe to him that giveth drink to his friend, and presenteth his gall, and maketh him drunk, that he may behold his nakedness.

From Project Gutenberg

Dressed Monte's withers with liniment greatly reducing swelling from saddle-gall.

From Project Gutenberg

Owing to the practice of wearing corsets, gall-stones occur much more commonly in women than in men.

From Project Gutenberg

Twenty-five per centum of all women over 60 years of age are found to have gall-stones.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• chutzpah