gall
noun
gall
1 American
[gawl]
/ gɔl /
gall
2
American
[gawl]
/ gɔl /
verb (used with object)
galls,
present (3rd person singular)
galled,
past participle, past
galling
present participle
-
to vex or irritate greatly.
His arrogant manner galls me.
-
to make sore by rubbing; chafe severely.
The saddle galled the horse's back.
verb (used without object)
galls,
present (3rd person singular)
galled,
past participle, past
galling
present participle
-
to be or become chafed.
-
Machinery. (of either of two engaging metal parts) to lose metal to the other because of heat or molecular attraction resulting from friction.
-
Metallurgy. (of a die or compact in powder metallurgy) to lose surface material through adhesion to the die.
noun
-
something very vexing or irritating.
-
a state of vexation or irritation.
-
a sore on the skin, especially of a horse, due to rubbing; excoriation.
gall
3
American
[gawl]
/ gɔl /
noun
Gall
4
American
[gawl]
/ gɔl /
noun
gall
1
British
/ ɡɔːl /
noun
-
a sore on the skin caused by chafing
-
something that causes vexation or annoyance
a gall to the spirits
-
irritation; exasperation
verb
-
pathol to abrade (the skin, etc) as by rubbing
-
(tr) to irritate or annoy; vex
gall
2
British
/ ɡɔːl /
noun
-
informal impudence
-
bitterness; rancour
-
something bitter or disagreeable
-
physiol an obsolete term for bile 1
-
an obsolete term for gall bladder
gall
3
British
/ ɡɔːl /
noun
gall.
4
British
abbreviation
gall
Scientific
/ gôl /
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
gallsimple
-
gallssimple
-
have galledperfect
-
has galledperfect
-
am gallingprogressive
-
are gallingprogressive
-
is gallingprogressive
-
have been gallingperfect progressive
-
has been gallingperfect progressive
Past
-
galledsimple
-
had galledperfect
-
was gallingprogressive
-
were gallingprogressive
-
had been gallingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
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”; see gall 2
Explanation
Gall describes something irritating, like someone very rude. If you barge into a bakery and cut in front of a sweet old lady, then you have gall. If someone has gall, they're irritating. In fact, as a verb, gall means "to irritate" like new tight jeans that gall your thighs. Gall is "bile," too, like what's in a gall bladder. Back in the days of Hippocrates, if the four humors of the body were out of whack, it affected your spirits. If you had too much bile, or gall, then you'd be aggressive or depressed. It's also a noun for "deep feeling of ill will."
Vocabulary lists containing gall
"Macbeth" Vocabulary from Act I
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A Raisin in the Sun
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Stump Speech: Tree Terminology
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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:
The son must endure the gall of being mocked and seeing his mother importuned by greedy suitors who feast nightly on the family’s stores.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
And then he has the gall to justify his expenses by saying that we do need two cars.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 9, 2025
He had been admitted to Nevill Hall Hospital in Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, after initially being admitted for a gall bladder infection.
From BBC ● Mar. 6, 2025
Yet the group’s website has the gall to show both their photos, along with the phrase “Great minds think alike.”
From Slate ● Oct. 29, 2024
After Grandpa went back to work just before Christmas, Aunt Loma had the gall to go ask him herself to raise Camp’s pay.
From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns
Sandy McCook, chairman of Nethy Community Council, said he had witnessed a "major flare-up" on Mam Suim, Craig nan Gall and into Strath Nethy on Thursday evening.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
The fall in exports to both China and the United States "is causing massive overcapacity across the entire German automotive industry," said EY auto industry expert Constantin M. Gall.
From Barron's ● Mar. 20, 2026
When Mr. Gall died six months ago, leaving behind only a sister in Vienna, his estate included diverse treasures characteristic of a life well lived.
From New York Times ● Dec. 5, 2024
"They are associated with a wide variety of long-term adverse health consequences like cancer, potential complications in pregnancy and lung disease," Gall said.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 2, 2024
“Sure was, by a group of old men and boys. They delayed those Long Knives long enough for the warriors sent by Gall and Crazy Horse to get to the crossing.”
From "In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse" by Joseph Marshall III
"You laugh. You. Now that is gall. You fight like a hedgehog ..." "There was a knight once who couldn't see," Bran said stubbornly, as Ser Rodrik went on below.
From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin
For the commonest kind of work in black walnut a very cheap polish can be made in the following manner: Take 1 gall. of turpentine, 2 lb. pulverised asphaltum, 1 qt. boiled linseed-oil, 2 oz.
From French Polishing and Enamelling A Practical Work of Instruction by Bitmead, Richard
Take 1/2 gall. of skimmed milk, 6 ozs. of lime newly slaked, 4 ozs. of poppy, linseed, or nut-oil, and 3 lbs. of Spanish white.
From Young's Demonstrative Translation of Scientific Secrets by Young, Daniel
Take of linseed oil 2-1/2 galls., spirits of turpentine 2-1/2 galls., western petroleum 1 gall., liquor potass 8 oz., sap green 1 oz., mix all together, and it is ready for use.
From Young's Demonstrative Translation of Scientific Secrets by Young, Daniel
One gall. makes 51 galls. sufficient for 160 to 200 square yards.
From Roses and Rose Growing by Kingsley, Rose Georgina
Above the books hangs a swath of raw linen adorned with oak galls — scabs shed from the trees Argote passes on routine walks in her neighborhood of Boyle Heights.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 7, 2023
But as much as it galls me to admit it, these gems don't always hold up to adult scrutiny.
From Salon ● Nov. 29, 2022
Another dogwood leaf may be in service to a different insect altogether: the gall midge, Parallelodiplosis subtruncata, a mosquito-like fly that makes blister galls.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 2, 2022
One common symptom is hyperplasia, the abnormal proliferation of cells that causes the appearance of plant tumors known as galls.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022
My own voice galls even me; it oppresses me like a silver fork scraped across porcelain.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
Many were particularly galled about a provision in the U.S. plan that extended amnesty for actions taken by all parties during the war.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 22, 2025
All these decades later, a wide swath of the public today continues to be baffled and occasionally galled by Pollock, just as it didn’t get Serra for years.
From New York Times ● Mar. 27, 2024
His new coach with the Clippers, Tyronn Lue, called it a performance that left him “intrigued by what I saw” — and just as galled by what he didn’t.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 25, 2023
The block on calls using the popular WhatsApp, FaceTime and Skype applications has particularly galled UAE residents who were separated from families and friends by restrictions during the pandemic.
From Reuters ● Sep. 29, 2021
She was right, he knew, though it galled him that she would make that decision 1 should never have come to the ball, he realized belatedly.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
What’s really galling to Scots is the culprit’s lack of ambition.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
And that’s not even the most galling part.
From Slate ● May 19, 2026
To the U.A.E., this was especially galling because several OPEC+ states were routinely falling short of their production targets.
From Barron's ● May 4, 2026
The galling sight of Ireland and Wales winning championships and Grand Slams, partying hard as Scotland stared in the window.
From BBC ● Mar. 13, 2026
It is galling indeed to have stood so long, hat in hand, waiting for Americans to grow up enough to realize that you do not threaten them.
From "The Fire Next Time" by James Baldwin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
