Spleen

Quick meaning: Spleen is a noun meaning A fit of immoderate laughter or merriment.

Meaning

A fit of immoderate laughter or merriment.

More Meanings

1. To annoy or irritate.
2. (ambitransitive) To complain; to rail; to vent one's spleen.
3. (anatomy, immunology) In vertebrates, including humans, a ductless vascular gland, located in the left upper abdomen near the stomach, which destroys old red blood cells, removes debris from the bloodstream, acts as a reservoir of blood, and produces lymphocytes.
4. (archaic, except in the set phrase "to vent one's spleen") A bad mood; spitefulness. Compare gall.
5. (obsolete, rare) A sudden motion or action; a fit; a freak; a whim.
6. (obsolete) Melancholy; hypochondriacal affections.
7. (obsolete, transitive) To dislike.

Example Sentences

Bodies changed to various forms by spleen.

By virtue, thou enforcest laughter ; thy silly thought, my spleen

In noble minds some dregs remain, / Not yet purged off, of spleen and sour disdain.

There is a luxury in self-dispraise: / And inward self-disparagement affords / To meditative spleen a grateful feast.

Word Forms

• spleens
• spleening
• spleened

Synonyms for spleen

Depending on context, synonyms include lien, milt, irascibility.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include lien, irascibility, liver, splenic, womb, rat.

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