gall

See also: gäll and Gall

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡɔːl/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ɡɑl/
• Rhymes: -ɔːl
• Homophone: Gaul

Etymology 1

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.

Noun

gall (countable and uncountable, plural galls)

2. (uncountable) Impudence or brazenness; temerity, chutzpah.
   • 1917, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter 6, in The Oakdale Affair‎^[1]:

     “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.

   • 1891, Exercises of class day of the senior class, Tuesday, June 23, 1891, page 33:

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

   • 1944, Teheran: Our Path in War and Peace, page 55:

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

   • 1962, How to live with a calculating cat, page 47:

     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.

3. (anatomy, dated, countable) A gallbladder.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Job 20:24–25:

     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.

4. (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.
5. (figurative, uncountable) Great misery or physical suffering, likened to the bitterest-tasting of substances.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Deuteronomy 29:18:

     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;

   • 1683, John Dryden, The Art of Poetry:

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

     […] I hated him with a hatred that turned my life to gall […]

Derived terms

• gall and wormwood
• gallbladder
• gall-less
• gall-of-the-earth
• gallstone
• oxgall
• vent one's gall

 

Translations

impudence or brazenness

• Bulgarian: нахалство (bg) n (nahalstvo)
• Dutch: lef (nl) n, durf (nl) m
• Finnish: röyhkeys (fi), otsa (fi)
• French: culot (fr) m, effronterie (fr) f, toupet (fr) m
• Georgian: კადნიერება (ḳadniereba), თავხედობა (ka) (tavxedoba)
• German: Frechheit (de) f, Unverfrorenheit (de) f
• Greek: θράσος (el) n (thrásos)
• Irish: brusaireacht f, dánacht f, coráiste m
• Portuguese: impudência (pt) f
• Romanian: tupeu (ro) n, impertinență (ro) f
• Spanish: descaro (es) m
• Swedish: fräckhet (sv)

gall bladder — see gall bladder

bile — see bile

great misery or physical suffering

• Dutch: gal (nl) m, leed (nl) n
• Finnish: piina (fi)
• Georgian: ნაღველი (naɣveli), მწუხარება (mc̣uxareba)
• Greek: πίκρα (el) f (píkra), χολή (el) f (cholí)
• Maori: paoa
• Portuguese: miséria (pt) f, penúria (pt) f, amargura (pt) f
• Romanian: mizerie (ro) f
• Spanish: penuria (es) f, doloroso (es) m

Etymology 2

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”).

Noun

gall (countable and uncountable, plural galls)

1. (countable) A sore on a horse caused by an ill-fitted or ill-adjusted saddle; a saddle sore.
   • 1989 National Ag Safety Database (Centers for Disease Control)

     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.

2. (pathology, countable) A sore or open wound caused by chafing, which may become infected, as with a blister.
   • 1892, Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself”, in Leaves of Grass […], Philadelphia, Pa.: David McKay, publisher, […], →OCLC:

     And remember perfectly well his revolving eyes and his awkwardness, / And remember putting plasters on the galls of his neck and ankles;

3. (figurative, uncountable) A feeling of exasperation.
   • c. 1587–1588, [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:

     Thou ſhalt be leader of this thouſand horſe,
     Whoſe foming galle with rage and high diſdaine,
     Haue ſworne the death of wicked Tamburlaine.

   • 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:

     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.

   • 1966, Bob Dylan (lyrics and music), “Visions of Johanna”, in Blonde on Blonde:

     He's sure got a lotta gall / To be so useless and all / Muttering small talk at the wall while I'm in the hall

4. (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.

Derived terms

• navel gall
• water-gall

 

Translations

sore on a horse

• Dutch: schaafwonde f
• Finnish: lyöttymä
• Greek: παράτριμμα (el) n (parátrimma)
• Irish: mairc (ga) f
• Ottoman Turkish: یاغیر (yağır), جداو (cıdav)
• Turkish: yağır (tr), cıdağı (tr)

sore or open wound caused by chafing

• Bulgarian: ожулване n (ožulvane)
• Dutch: schaafwonde f
• Finnish: hankauma
• Galician: esfoladura f
• Greek: παράτριμμα (el) n (parátrimma)
• Irish: mairc (ga) f
• Portuguese: esfolamento m
• Romanian: rosătură (ro) f

feeling of exasperation

• Finnish: suuttumus (fi), katkeruus (fi)
• Greek: χολή (el) f (cholí), χόλιασμα (el) n (chóliasma), πίκρα (el) f (píkra)
• Portuguese: exasperação f, exaspero (pt) m
• Romanian: exasperare (ro) f

pit caused on a surface caused by friction between the surfaces

• Finnish: hankauma
• Russian: истира́ние (ru) n (istiránije)

Verb

gall (third-person singular simple present galls, present participle galling, simple past and past participle galled)

1. (ergative) To chafe, to rub or subject to friction; to create a sore on the skin.
   • 1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC:

     […] 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.

2. (transitive, figurative) To bother or trouble.
   • 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:

     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.

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XV, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     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.

3. (transitive, figurative) To harass, to harry, often with the intent to cause injury.
   • June 24, 1778, George Washington, The Writings of George Washington From the Original Manuscript Sources: Volume 12, 1745–1799

     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.

4. (transitive, figurative) To exasperate.
   • 1979 December, Mark Bowden, “Captivity Pageant”, in The Atlantic, volume 296, number 5, pages 92–97:

     Metrinko was hungry, but he was galled by how self-congratulatory his captors seemed, how generous and noble and proudly Islamic.

5. (transitive, 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.

6. (intransitive, obsolete, rare) To scoff; to jeer.
   • 1599 (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]:

     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

Translations

to chafe

• Bulgarian: протривам (bg) (protrivam), ожулвам (bg) (ožulvam)
• Dutch: schaven (nl), wrijven (nl), storen (nl)
• Finnish: hiertää (fi)
• German: wundreiben, wundscheuern
• Portuguese: esfolar (pt)
• Romanian: zgâria (ro), roade (ro)
• Swedish: skava (sv)
• Ukrainian: натирати (uk) impf (natyraty), натерти pf (naterty)

to trouble or bother

• Bulgarian: дразня (bg) (draznja)
• Dutch: storen (nl), lastigvallen (nl), ambeteren (nl) (Flemish)
• Finnish: vaivata (fi), sapettaa (fi)
• French: déranger (fr), gêner (fr), troubler (fr)
• Georgian: შეწუხება (šec̣uxeba), გაღიზიანება (gaɣizianeba)
• German: stören (de), lästigfallen
• Portuguese: incomodar (pt)
• Romanian: deranja (ro), incomoda (ro), enerva (ro)
• Spanish: incomodar (es)

to harass, harry

• Dutch: storen (nl), lastigvallen (nl), ambeteren (nl) (Flemish)
• Finnish: häiritä (fi)
• French: harceler (fr)
• German: belästigen (de), schikanieren (de)
• Portuguese: atormentar (pt)
• Romanian: tracasa (ro), molesta (ro), sâcâi (ro)

to exasperate

• Catalan: exasperar (ca)
• Dutch: storen (nl)
• Finnish: ärsyttää (fi), suututtaa (fi)
• French: exaspérer (fr)
• Georgian: გაღიზიანება (gaɣizianeba), გულის გაწყალება (gulis gac̣q̇aleba)
• German: ärgern (de)
• Ido: exasperar (io)
• Portuguese: exasperar (pt)
• Romanian: exaspera (ro)
• Spanish: exasperar (es)

to cause pitting on a surface

Etymology 3

From Middle English galle, from Old French galle, from Latin galla (“oak-apple”).

Galls on a dried leaf.

Noun

gall (plural galls)

1. (phytopathology) 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).
   • 1974, Philip P. Wiener, editor, Dictionary of the History of Ideas‎^[2]:

     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.

2. A bump-like imperfection resembling a gall.
   • 1653, Izaak Walton, chapter 21, in The Compleat Angler‎^[3]:

     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.

Synonyms

• nutgall

Derived terms

• Aleppo gall
• apple gall
• artichoke gall
• bedeguar gall
• beech gall
• cane gall
• Chinese gall
• cola-nut gall
• coral gall
• cranberry gall
• crown gall
• cup gall
• currant gall
• cypress gall
• elm gall
• filbert gall
• fungus gall
• gallapple
• gallflower
• gallfly
• gall gnat
• gallic
• gall midge
• gall mite
• gallnut
• gall-nut ink
• gall oak
• gall of glass
• gall wasp
• goldenrod gall
• gouty gall
• horned oak gall
• iron-gall ink
• knee gall
• knopper gall
• leaf-gall
• marble gall
• meadowsweet rust gall
• mossy rose gall
• nutgall
• oak gall
• pineapple gall
• pithy gall
• plant gall
• pocket plum gall
• rams horn gall
• red pae gall
• rind gall
• root gall
• rose gall
• seed gall
• stem gall
• tomato gall
• trumpet gall
• Turkish gall
• twig gall
• vine gall
• willow gall
• witch-hazel cone gall
• wound gall

 

Translations

blister or tumor-like growth found on the surface of plants

• Armenian: գխտոր (hy) (gxtor)
• Catalan: gala (ca) f, agalla (ca) f
• Chichewa: ndulu
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 癭／瘿 (zh) (yǐng)

• Czech: hálka f
• Dutch: gal (nl) m, galknobbel m
• Finnish: äkämä (fi)
• French: galle (fr) f
• Galician: bugalla (gl) f, bugallo (gl) m, bullaca f, bullaco m, carrabouxa f, carrabouxo (gl) m, cecidio m, coco (gl) m
• German: Galle (de) f, Gallapfel (de) m, Pflanzengalle f, Zezidie (de) f, Cecidie f
• Hebrew: עפץ / עָָפָץ (he) m (afáts)
• Italian: galla (it) f
• Japanese: 虫癭 (ja) (ちゅうえい, chūei), 虫瘤 (むしこぶ, mushikobu)
• Latin: galla f
• Ottoman Turkish: مازو (mazu, mazı)
• Polish: galas (pl) m, galasówka f
• Portuguese: agalha f, bugalha (pt) f, bugalho (pt) m, cecídia f, cecídio m, galha (pt) f
• Romanian: gală (ro) f, cecidie (ro) f
• Russian: галл (ru) m (gall), черни́льный оре́шек m (černílʹnyj oréšek)
• Slovene: šiška (sl) f
• Spanish: agalla (es) f
• Turkish: mazı (tr)
• Ukrainian: гал m (hal)
• Welsh: darafal

bump-like imperfection

• Dutch: knoop (nl) m, knobbel (nl) m
• Finnish: äkämä (fi), patti (fi), möykky (fi), takku (fi)
• Greek: όζος (el) m (ózos), εξόγκωμα (el) n (exógkoma)
• Portuguese: galo (pt) m, calombo (pt) m
• ǃXóõ: gǁkxʻáã

Verb

gall (third-person singular simple present galls, present participle galling, simple past and past participle galled)

1. (transitive) To impregnate with a decoction of gallnuts in dyeing.
   • 1815, Thomas Cooper, A Practical Treatise on Dyeing, and Callicoe Printing:

     Raw silk is not galled, it is dyed at once in the black without any preparation : the liquor should be hot

See also

• gall dang

Catalan

Etymology

Inherited from Latin gallus. Compare Occitan gal, Old French jal, Spanish gallo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈɡaʎ]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʎ

Noun

gall m (plural galls)

1. rooster, cock
2. John Dory

   Synonym: gall marí

Derived terms

• fer el gall
• gall de baralla
• gall dindi
• gall fer
• gall nival
• gallaret
• gallejar
• galler
• pes gall

 

See also

• gallina

References

• “gall” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “gall”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “gall” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “gall” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Hungarian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈɡɒlː]
• Hyphenation: gall
• Rhymes: -ɒlː

Adjective

gall (not comparable)

1. Gallic (of or pertaining to Gaul, its people or language)

Declension

Inflection (stem in -o-, back harmony)
	singular	plural
nominative	gall	gallok
accusative	gallt	gallokat
dative	gallnak	galloknak
instrumental	gallal	gallokkal
causal-final	gallért	gallokért
translative	gallá	gallokká
terminative	gallig	gallokig
essive-formal	gallként	gallokként
essive-modal	gallul	—
inessive	gallban	gallokban
superessive	gallon	gallokon
adessive	gallnál	galloknál
illative	gallba	gallokba
sublative	gallra	gallokra
allative	gallhoz	gallokhoz
elative	gallból	gallokból
delative	gallról	gallokról
ablative	galltól	galloktól
non-attributive possessive - singular	gallé	galloké
non-attributive possessive - plural	galléi	gallokéi

Noun

gall (countable and uncountable, plural gallok)

1. Gaul (person)
2. Gaul (language)

Declension

Inflection (stem in -o-, back harmony)
	singular	plural
nominative	gall	gallok
accusative	gallt	gallokat
dative	gallnak	galloknak
instrumental	gallal	gallokkal
causal-final	gallért	gallokért
translative	gallá	gallokká
terminative	gallig	gallokig
essive-formal	gallként	gallokként
essive-modal	—	—
inessive	gallban	gallokban
superessive	gallon	gallokon
adessive	gallnál	galloknál
illative	gallba	gallokba
sublative	gallra	gallokra
allative	gallhoz	gallokhoz
elative	gallból	gallokból
delative	gallról	gallokról
ablative	galltól	galloktól
non-attributive possessive - singular	gallé	galloké
non-attributive possessive - plural	galléi	gallokéi

Possessive forms of gall
possessor	single possession	multiple possessions
1st person sing.	gallom	galljaim
2nd person sing.	gallod	galljaid
3rd person sing.	gallja	galljai
1st person plural	gallunk	galljaink
2nd person plural	gallotok	galljaitok
3rd person plural	galljuk	galljaik

Related terms

• Gallia

Further reading

• gall in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (“The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language”, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN
• gall in Nóra Ittzés, editor, A magyar nyelv nagyszótára [A Comprehensive Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (Nszt.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2006–2031 (work in progress; published a–ez as of 2024).

Icelandic

Verb

gall (strong)

1. first-person singular past indicative of gjalla
2. third-person singular past indicative of gjalla

Irish

Pronunciation

• (Aran) IPA^(key): /ɡɑ(ː)l̪ˠ/
• (Cois Fharraige) IPA^(key): /ɡɑːl̪ˠ/
• (Ulster) IPA^(key): /ɡal̪ˠ/

Etymology 1

From Middle Irish gall (“foreigner”), from Latin Gallus (“a Gaul”). Cognate with Scottish Gaelic gall and Manx goal.

Noun

gall m (genitive singular gaill, nominative plural gaill)

1. foreigner
2. (derogatory) Anglified Irish person

Derived terms

• camán gall (“chervil”)
• gallda

Related terms

• Gall

Etymology 2

Noun

gall m (genitive singular gaill, nominative plural gaill)

1. Alternative form of gallán

Declension

Declension of gall (first declension)

bare forms case singular plural nominative gall gaill vocative a ghaill a ghalla genitive gaill gall dative gall gaill forms with the definite article case singular plural nominative an gall na gaill genitive an ghaill na ngall dative leis an ngall don ghall leis na gaill

Mutation

Mutated forms of gall

radical	lenition	eclipsis
gall	ghall	ngall

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Modern Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “gall”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1959) “gall”, in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm
• “gall”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013-2024

Middle Irish

Etymology

From Latin Gallus (“a Gaul”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ɡal͈]

Noun

gall m (genitive gaill, nominative plural gaill)

1. foreigner

Descendants

• Irish: gall
• Manx: goal
• Scottish Gaelic: gall

Mutation

Mutation of gall

radical	lenition	nasalization
gall	gall pronounced with /ɣ(ʲ)-/	ngall

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Middle Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “1 Gall”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Scottish Gaelic

Noun

gall m (genitive singular goill, plural goill)

1. Alternative letter-case form of Gall

Uzbek

Noun

gall (plural galllar)

1. Gaul (person)

Derived terms

• galcha

Adjective

gall (comparative gallroq, superlative eng gall)

1. Gaulish

   gall tili

   the Gaulish language

Welsh

Alternative forms

• geill (literary, third-person singular present/future)

Pronunciation

• (North Wales) IPA^(key): /ɡaɬ/
• (South Wales) IPA^(key): /ɡaːɬ/, /ɡaɬ/
• Rhymes: -aɬ

Verb

gall

1. inflection of gallu:
   1. third-person singular present/future
   2. (literary, rare) second-person singular imperative

Mutation

Mutated forms of gall

radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
gall	all	ngall	unchanged

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.