green about the gills

Idioms  

1. Also, green around the gills. Looking ill or nauseated, as in After that bumpy ride she looked quite green about the gills. The use of green to describe an ailing person's complexion dates from about 1300, and gills has referred to the flesh around human jaws and ears since the 1600s. Although in the 1800s white and yellow were paired with gills to suggest illness, the alliterative green has survived them.

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Example Sentences

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green about the gills

You want to keep going until the animal that is your bur­den—your tiger, your rhinoceros, whatever—is properly green about the gills with seasickness.

From "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel

"Torry does look a bit green about the gills," put in Whistler.

From Navy Boys Behind the Big Guns Sinking the German U-Boats by Owen, R. Emmett (Robert Emmett)

To add to the anxieties of the skipper his crew of boys, though showing no funk, began to grow green about the gills, and presently Warington found himself in command of an entirely sea-sick crew.

From The Story of Baden-Powell 'The Wolf That Never Sleeps' by Begbie, Harold

Roos was grinning when he climbed aboard, but still showed a tinge of green about the gills.

From Down the Columbia by Freeman, Lewis R. (Lewis Ransome)

“Well, I can’t say, sir,” replied Mr Dicey, “but he looks ’orrible bad, all yellow and green about the gills, and fearful red round the eyes.

From Fast in the Ice Adventures in the Polar Regions by Ballantyne, R. M. (Robert Michael)