bilious C2 Topic:Describing Qualities US /ˈbɪl.jəs/ UK /ˈbɪl.i.əs/ See IPA manual Freq #64859 Meanings 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 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 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! Thesaurus Synonyms 3 adj · peevishly ill-humored,... cholericcrankyirasciblepeevishsplenetictesty Word family Derived forms antibiliousbiliouslybiliousnessnervo-biliousnonbilioussanguineobiliousunbilious Related forms atrabiliousbile Etymology From French bilieux, from Latin bīliōsus (“full of bile”), from bīlis (“bile”) + -ōsus (“full of”). Topics Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives External links Google Images Cambridge Dictionary Wiktionary # bilious **Type:** Word **Level:** C2 **Part of speech:** adj **IPA (US):** /ˈbɪl.jəs/ **IPA (UK):** /ˈbɪl.i.əs/ **Frequency rank:** 64859 ## Meanings 1. Resembling bile, especially in color. 2. Suffering from real or supposed liver disorder, especially excessive secretions of bile. 3. Peevishly ill-humored, irritable or bad tempered; irascible. ## Examples - 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. - 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. - 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! ## Synonyms - choleric - cranky - irascible - peevish - splenetic - testy ## Derived Forms - antibilious - biliously - biliousness - nervo-bilious - nonbilious - sanguineobilious - unbilious ## Related Forms - atrabilious - bile ## Etymology From French bilieux, from Latin bīliōsus (“full of bile”), from bīlis (“bile”) + -ōsus (“full of”). ## Topics - Describing Qualities - Word Formation & Derivatives markdown