bile
Americannoun
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biles
plural
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Physiology. a bitter, alkaline, yellow or greenish liquid, secreted by the liver, that aids in absorption and digestion, especially of fats.
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ill temper; peevishness.
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Old Physiology. either of two humors associated with anger and gloominess.
verb
noun
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a bitter greenish to golden brown alkaline fluid secreted by the liver and stored in the gall bladder. It is discharged during digestion into the duodenum, where it aids the emulsification and absorption of fats
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irritability or peevishness
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archaic either of two bodily humours, one of which ( black bile ) was thought to cause melancholy and the other ( yellow bile ) anger
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A bitter, alkaline, brownish-yellow or greenish-yellow fluid that is secreted by the liver, concentrated and stored in the gallbladder, and discharged into the duodenum of the small intestine. It helps in the digestion of fats and the neutralization of acids, such as the hydrochloric acid secreted by the stomach. Bile consists of salts, acids, cholesterol, lipids, pigments, and water.
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◆ Bile salts help in the emulsification, digestion, and absorption of fats.
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◆ Bile pigments are waste products formed by the breakdown of hemoglobin from old red blood cells.
Discover More
Bile is sometimes used figuratively to denote bitterness in general: “His writing was full of bile.”
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of bile
First recorded in 1655–65; from French, from Latin bīlis; of disputed origin; compare Breton bestl, Medieval Cornish bystel, Welsh bustl
Explanation
In medicine, bile is a fluid secreted by the liver and used to help breakdown fats. Because it used to be associated with anger, feeling your bile rise is the same as feeling mounting anger. How did bile get linked to anger? Pre-modern doctors believed there were four basic substances to the human body, called humours, one of which was yellow bile that controlled anger. It doesn't, but when you feel angry, you'll still hear that you have to swallow your bile.
Vocabulary lists containing bile
Human Anatomy and Physiology - Introductory
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Life As We Knew It
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Human Anatomy and Physiology - High School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
She used tracer dye to make the fake bile glow in the dark.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
Towle's family announced her death, from complications related to bile duct cancer that had spread to other parts of her body, on her social media accounts on Thursday.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
The bears had been kept at one of South Korea's last bear bile farms – sites which have now been banned in the country.
From BBC ● Jun. 29, 2026
Beyond digestion, bile acids also serve as chemical messengers that interact with receptors throughout the body.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 9, 2026
The mere mention causes bile to rise in my throat.
From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen
“Put a finger down if simone biles just ended you 🖐🏼,” Lee wrote, referring to a popular TikTok trend.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2024
Alexander Calder's vivid mo biles were meant to jiggle and gyrate under the leaves, George Rickey's feathery kinetics to stir in the breeze.
From Time Magazine Archive
The biles or blains, which all classes of people in India are subject to, may be counted as amongst the catalogue of Pharaoh's plagues.
From Observations on the Mussulmauns of India Descriptive of Their Manners, Customs, Habits and Religious Opinions Made During a Twelve Years' Residence in Their Immediate Society by William Crooke
He knows how to obtain bumblebees' honey, paying for this information with an ear like a garnet potato, one of the sort that "biles up meller;" and he knows how to find mushrooms.
From Lippincott's Magazine, Vol. 22, September, 1878 by Various
No; an' likewise away up yondeh pas' the Tennessee line, at Islan' Thutty-eight, whah the current's so full o' biles an' swells an' snags an' sawyehs 'at they calls it the Devil's Elbow!
From Gideon's Band A Tale of the Mississippi by George Washington Cable
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
