bilious
[bil-yuh s]
Origin of bilious
Synonyms
See more synonyms on Thesaurus.com3. grumpy, crabby, cross, grouchy, dyspeptic.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for bilious
Contemporary Examples
When you show people real human beings, most people don't want to be dismissive and bilious.
I'd already drafted a bitter, bilious, bombastic broadside against the right-wing hacks on the Republican Court.
GOP is a mummy-wrapped skeleton sitting in its own chilly mausoleum of bilious resentments and creepy sentimentality.
In fact, the GOP is a mummy-wrapped skeleton sitting in its own chilly mausoleum of bilious resentments and creepy sentimentality.
Historical Examples
What signifies the blare of your brass, or the bilious bleating of your wood-wind!
MelomaniacsJames Huneker
Their bloodless, pinched, yellow faces were like the faces of bilious invalids.
TyphoonJoseph Conrad
The doctor was sent for and diagnosed the case "bilious fever."
Mark Twain, A Biography, 1835-1910, CompleteAlbert Bigelow Paine
I've put away so much of that sweet slush now that I'll be bilious for a week.
Torchy As A PaSewell Ford
His face was long, thin and yellow, of a bilious appearance.
The Hand in the DarkArthur J. Rees
bilious
- of or relating to bile
- affected with or denoting any disorder related to excess secretion of bile
- informal (esp of colours) extremely distasteful; nauseatinga bilious green
- informal bad-tempered; irritable
Word Origin
C16: from Latin bīliōsus full of bile 1
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for bilious
adj.
1540s, "pertaining to bile, biliary," from French bilieux, from Latin biliosus "pertaining to bile," from bilis (see bile). Meaning "wrathful, peevish, ill-tempered" (as people afflicted with an excess of bile were believed to be) is attested from 1560s. This is the main modern sense in English and French; the more literal meaning being taken up by biliary. Related: Biliousness.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
bilious
(bĭl′yəs)
- Of, relating to, or containing bile; biliary.
- Characterized by an excess secretion of bile.
- Relating to, characterized by, or experiencing gastric distress caused by a disorder of the liver or gallbladder.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.