bile

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a bitter digestive fluid made by the liver and stored in the gallbladder

   Bile helps the small intestine digest fats.

2. 2
   noun

   bitter anger, hostility, or ill temper

   The letter was filled with bile rather than reasoned criticism.

3. 3
   verb

   a dialect pronunciation spelling of boil

   In the character’s dialect, the pot would not bile without a fire.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Bile, recorded in English from the mid-17th century, is historically related to yellow, gall, and the final element of melancholy. The source connects these words with the greenish colour of bile.

From Middle French bile, from Latin bilis ("bile"), partly displacing the native English word gall. The figurative sense of bitter temper reflects the ancient theory that bodily humors shaped personality. The dialect verb is an unrelated pronunciation spelling of boil.

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