Gall

/ɡɔːl/ · noun

Meaning

(uncountable) Impudence or brazenness; temerity; chutzpah..

Definitions by Sense

1. (uncountable) Impudence or brazenness; temerity; chutzpah.
2. (anatomy, archaic, countable) A gallbladder.
3. (physiology, archaic, uncountable) Bile, especially that of an animal; the greenish, profoundly bitter-tasting fluid found in bile ducts and gall bladders, structures associated with the liver.
4. (figurative, uncountable) Great misery or physical suffering, likened to the bitterest-tasting of substances.
5. (countable) A sore on a horse caused by an ill-fitted or ill-adjusted saddle; a saddle sore.
6. (pathology, countable) A sore or open wound caused by chafing, which may become infected, as with a blister.
7. (figurative, uncountable) A feeling of exasperation.
8. (countable, 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.

Example Sentences

“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.

Prichard, while keeping school, had the unmitigated gall to teach Greek, although he had never studied the subject.

In July 1938, that was sufficient to call down contempt and hatred on us, and brand us as men of unmitigated gall.

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.

"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."

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.

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;

The stage its ancient fury thus let fall, / And comedy diverted without gall.

Synonyms for gall

Antonyms for gall

Related Words

Word Forms

• galls
• galling
• galled

Usage Notes

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