Etymology From Middle English galle, from Old English ġealla, galla, from Proto-West Germanic *gallā, from Proto-Germanic *gallǭ. The figurative senses (e.g., impudence, brazenness, chutzpah) are related to the literal sense (i.e., bile) via the lasting linguocultural effects of humorism, which governed Western medicine for many centuries before the advent of scientific medicine. Related to Dutch gal, German Galle, Swedish galle, galla, Ancient Greek χολή (kholḗ). Also remotely related with yellow and gold.
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Impudence or brazenness; temerity; chutzpah.
“Durn ye!” he cried. “I’ll lam ye! Get offen here. I knows ye. Yer one o’ that gang o’ bums that come here last night, an’ now you got the gall to come back beggin’ for food, eh? I’ll lam ye!” and he raised the gun to his shoulder.1917, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter 6, in The Oakdale Affair:
Prichard, while keeping school, had the unmitigated gall to teach Greek, although he had never studied the subject.1891, Exercises of class day of the senior class, Tuesday, June 23, 1891, page 33:
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In July 1938, that was sufficient to call down contempt and hatred on us, and brand us as men of unmitigated gall.1944, Teheran: Our Path in War and Peace, page 55:
It requires the cunning of a chess master, the planning of a field marshal, the adroitness and polish of a premier of France, or, failing these, the sheer, unmitigated gall of your door-to-door salesman.1962, How to live with a calculating cat, page 47:
"Also, as apologetic as you were for occupying my time, which I had hoped to spend with my daughter, you used about twice as many words as you needed to, and wasted an entire paragraph complaining about your colleagues. I went back to the SCP-079 file — Supervisor Valis would have had the thing decommissioned years ago if it weren't for your blatant technofetishism. Yet, you have the gall to characterize the Foundation's ongoing political interventions and military operations as squabbles."2022 October 18, Placeholder McD, “SCP-7579 [offset 1]”, in SCP Foundation, archived from the original on 20 Dec 2024:
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, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Job 20:24–25:
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Medicine, Physiology, SciencesArchaic Bile, especially that of an animal; the greenish, profoundly bitter-tasting fluid found in bile ducts and gall bladders, structures associated with the liver.
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Figuratively Great misery or physical suffering, likened to the bitterest-tasting of substances.
Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood;1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Deuteronomy 29:18:
The stage its ancient fury thus let fall, / And comedy diverted without gall.1683, John Dryden, The Art of Poetry:
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[…] I hated him with a hatred that turned my life to gall […]1847 December, Ellis Bell [pseudonym; Emily Brontë], chapter XIV, in Wuthering Heights: […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Thomas Cautley Newby, […], →OCLC:
Etymology From Middle English galle, from Old English gealla (“a fretted spot on the skin”), from Proto-West Germanic *gallō, from Proto-Germanic *gallô (“infirmity, swelling, lesion”).
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Ergative To chafe, to rub or subject to friction; to create a sore on the skin.
[…] he went awkwardly in these clothes at first: wearing the drawers was very awkward to him, and the sleeves of the waistcoat galled his shoulders and the inside of his arms; but a little easing them where he complained they hurt him, and using himself to them, he took to them at length very well.1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC:
I heard him curse his own misery, while he hugged the chains that galled him:1838, Martin Farquhar Tupper, “Of Sorrow”, in Proverbial Philosophy: A Book of Thoughts and Arguments, Originally Treated, London: Joseph Rickerby, […], →OCLC, page 210:
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But, alas! the heart once bruised and galled recovers itself but slowly, and it was many minutes before the softest words the eloquent lover could shape to sound sufficed to dry those burning tears, […].1843, Edward Bulwer[-]Lytton, The Last of the Barons, London; New York, N.Y.: George Routledge and Sons […], →OCLC:
Had Ninus not made offer of a high reward when Nineveh should be builded at the end of two short years? Ah, here the sandal galled!1907, Edward Peple, Semiramis: A Tale of Battle and of Love:
Edward Churchill still attended to his work in a hopeless mechanical manner like a sleep-walker who walks safely on a well-known round. But his Roman collar galled him, his cossack stifled him, his biretta was as uncomfortable as a merry-andrew's cap and bells.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XV, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
It is as lack of breath or bread: life hath no grief more galling.1838, Martin Farquhar Tupper, “Of Speaking”, in Proverbial Philosophy: A Book of Thoughts and Arguments, Originally Treated, London: Joseph Rickerby, […], →OCLC, page 135:
I went below, and did what I could for my wound; it pained me a good deal, and still bled freely; but it was neither deep nor dangerous, nor did it greatly gall me when I used my arm.1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, “‘Pieces of Eight’”, in Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC, part V (My Sea Adventure), page 219:
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Figuratively To harass, to harry, often with the intent to cause injury.
The disposition for these detachments is as follows – Morgans corps, to gain the enemy’s right flank; Maxwells brigade to hang on their left. Brigadier Genl. Scott is now marching with a very respectable detachment destined to gall the enemys left flank and rear.1778 June 24, George Washington, The Writings of George Washington From the Original Manuscript Sources, volume 12, archived from the original on 11 Aug 2014:
However he had concealed it from the eyes of others, the haughty ire of Margaret must have galled him in his deepest soul.1843, Edward Bulwer[-]Lytton, The Last of the Barons, London; New York, N.Y.: George Routledge and Sons […], →OCLC:
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As Bactria had pressed upon Assyria's force below, so now Prince Menon galled the Bactrians from his vantage point above, destroying them with arrows and with slings, with down-flung stones and the trunks of fallen trees.1907, Edward Peple, Semiramis: A Tale of Battle and of Love:
Metrinko was hungry, but he was galled by how self-congratulatory his captors seemed, how generous and noble and proudly Islamic.1979 December, Mark Bowden, “Captivity Pageant”, in The Atlantic, volume 296, number 5, pages 92–97:
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Engineering, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Technical 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.
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 cudgel1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:
Etymology From Middle English galle, from Old English gealla (“a fretted spot on the skin”), from Proto-West Germanic *gallō, from Proto-Germanic *gallô (“infirmity, swelling, lesion”).
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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 National Ag Safety Database (Centers for Disease Control)
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Medicine, Pathology, Sciences 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, Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself”, in Leaves of Grass […], Philadelphia, Pa.: David McKay, publisher, […], →OCLC:
Thou ſhalt be leader of this thouſand horſe, Whoſe foming galle with rage and high diſdaine, Haue ſworne the death of wicked Tamburlaine.c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene i:
It moves my gall to hear a preacher descanting on dress and needle-work; and still more, to hear him address the British fair, the fairest of the fair, as if they had only feelings.1791 (date written), Mary Wollstonecraft, “Animadversions on Some of the Writers who have Rendered Women Objects of Pity, Bordering on Contempt”, in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1792, →OCLC, page 210:
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He's sure got a lotta gall / To be so useless and all / Muttering small talk at the wall while I'm in the hall1966, Bob Dylan, “Visions of Johanna”, in Blonde on Blonde:
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Engineering, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Technical A pit on a surface being cut caused by the friction between the two surfaces exceeding the bond of the material at a point.
Etymology From Middle English galle, from Old French galle, from Latin galla (“oak-apple”).
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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 hot1815, Thomas Cooper, A Practical Treatise on Dyeing, and Callicoe Printing:
Etymology From Middle English galle, from Old French galle, from Latin galla (“oak-apple”).
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Biology, Botany, Medicine, Natural sciences, Pathology, Phytopathology, Sciences 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).
Even so, Redi retained a belief that in certain other cases—the origin of parasites inside the human or animal body or of grubs inside of oak galls—there must be spontaneous generation. Bit by bit the evidence grew against such views. In 1670 Jan Swammerdam, painstaking student of the insect’s life cycle, suggested that the grubs in galls were enclosed in them for the sake of nourishment and must come from insects that had inserted their semen or their eggs into the plants.1974, Philip P. Wiener, editor, Dictionary of the History of Ideas:
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A bump-like imperfection resembling a gall.
But first for your Line. First note, that you are to take care that your hair be round and clear, and free from galls, or scabs, or frets: for a well- chosen, even, clear, round hair, of a kind of glass-colour, will prove as strong as three uneven scabby hairs that are ill-chosen, and full of galls or unevenness. You shall seldom find a black hair but it is round, but many white are flat and uneven; therefore, if you get a lock of right, round, clear, glass-colour hair, make much of it.1653, Izaak Walton, chapter 21, in The Compleat Angler: