Category:Bile

Bile, n. Etym: [L. bilis: cf. F. bile.]

1. (Physiol.)

Defn: A yellow, or greenish, viscid fluid, usually alkaline in reaction, secreted by the liver. It passes into the intestines, where it aids in the digestive process. Its characteristic constituents are the bile salts, and coloring matters.

2. Bitterness of feeling; choler; anger; ill humor; as, to stir one's bile. Prescott.

Note: The ancients considered the bile to be the "humor" which caused irascibility.

Bile, n. Etym: [OE. byle, bule, bele, AS. b, b; skin to D. buil, G. beule, and Goth. ufbauljan to puff up. Cf. Boil a tumor, Bulge.]

Defn: A boil. [Obs. or Archaic]