Word Definition

Gall

  1. The bitter, alkaline, viscid fluid found in the gall bladder, beneath the liver. It consists of the secretion of the liver, or bile, mixed with that of the mucous membrane of the gall bladder.
  2. Impudence; brazen assurance.
  3. To fret; to vex; as, to be galled by sarcasm.
  4. To fret and wear away by friction; to hurt or break the skin of by rubbing; to chafe; to injure the surface of by attrition; as, a saddle galls the back of a horse; to gall a mast or a cable.
  5. A wound in the skin made by rubbing.
  6. To impregnate with a decoction of gallnuts.
  7. The gall bladder.
  8. To injure; to harass; to annoy; as, the troops were galled by the shot of the enemy.
  9. An excrescence of any form produced on any part of a plant by insects or their larvae. They are most commonly caused by small Hymenoptera and Diptera which puncture the bark and lay their eggs in the wounds. The larvae live within the galls. Some galls are due to aphids, mites, etc. See Gallnut.
  10. Anything extremely bitter; bitterness; rancor.
  11. To scoff; to jeer.