bilious

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   Resembling bile, especially in color.

   Does money fail?—come to my mint—coin paper, Till gold be at a discount, and ashamed To show his bilious face, go purge himself, In emulation of her vestal whiteness.

2. 2
   adj

   Suffering from real or supposed liver disorder, especially excessive secretions of bile.

   Perry tells me that Mr. Cole never touches malt liquor. You would not think it to look at him, but he is bilious—Mr. Cole is very bilious.

3. 3
   adj

   Peevishly ill-humored, irritable or bad tempered; irascible.

   The glorified spirit of a great statesman and philosopher dawdling, like a bilious old Nabob at a watering-place, over quarterly reviews and novels—dropping in to pay long calls—making excursions in search of the picturesque!

From French bilieux, from Latin bīliōsus (“full of bile”), from bīlis (“bile”) + -ōsus (“full of”).

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