Sekirov Dictionary

gall

/ɡɔːl/

verb 7
noun 10
forms 5
phrases 1

verb7

•
To chafe, to rub or subject to friction; to create a sore on the skin.
- I heard him curse his own misery, while he hugged the chains that galled him: — 1838
•
(figurative) To bother or trouble.
- It is as lack of breath or bread: life hath no grief more galling. — 1838
•
(figurative) To exasperate.
- Metrinko was hungry, but he was galled by how self-congratulatory his captors seemed, how generous and noble and proudly Islamic. — 1979
•
(figurative) To harass, to harry, often with the intent to cause injury.
- However he had concealed it from the eyes of others, the haughty ire of Margaret must have galled him in his deepest soul. — 1843
•
To cause pitting on a surface being cut from the friction between the two surfaces exceeding the bond of the material at a point.
- Improper cooling and a dull milling cutter on titanium can gall the surface.
•
To impregnate with a decoction of gallnuts in dyeing.
- Raw silk is not galled, it is dyed at once in the black without any preparation : the liquor should be hot — 1815
•
(no longer used, rare) To scoff; to jeer.
- I have seen you gleeking and galling at this gentleman twice or thrice. You thought, because he could not speak English in the native garb, he could not therefore handle an English cudgel — 1599

noun10

•
Impudence or brazenness; temerity; chutzpah.
- Prichard, while keeping school, had the unmitigated gall to teach Greek, although he had never studied the subject. — 1891
A blister or tumor-like growth found on the surface of plants, caused by various pathogens, especially the burrowing of insect larvae into the living tissues, such as that of the common oak gall wasp (Cynips quercusfolii).
•
A sore on a horse caused by an ill-fitted or ill-adjusted saddle; a saddle sore.
- Riding a horse with bruised or broken skin can cause a gall, which frequently results in the white saddle marks seen on the withers and backs of some horses. — 1989
•
A sore or open wound caused by chafing, which may become infected, as with a blister.
- And remember perfectly well his revolving eyes and his awkwardness, / And remember putting plasters on the galls of his neck and ankles — 1892
•
(figurative) A feeling of exasperation.
- Thou shalt be leader of this thousand horse, Whose foming galle with rage and high disdaine, Haue sworne the death of wicked Tamburlaine. — 1587
•
(figurative) Great misery or physical suffering, likened to the bitterest-tasting of substances.
- The stage its ancient fury thus let fall, / And comedy diverted without gall. — 1683
A bump-like imperfection resembling a gall.
A pit on a surface being cut caused by the friction between the two surfaces exceeding the bond of the material at a point.
(no longer used) Bile, especially that of an animal; the greenish, profoundly bitter-tasting fluid found in bile ducts and gall bladders, structures associated with the liver.
•
(no longer used) A gallbladder.
- He shall flee from the iron weapon and the bow of steel shall strike him through. It is drawn and cometh out of the body; yea, the glittering sword cometh out of his gall. — 1611

forms

galled · galling · galleth · galls · gallest

Phrases with gall

gall and wormwood
bitterness and resentment

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