gall

Everyday

1. Gall is rude, bold cheek: «He had the gall to ask for more after eating mine!» tree →
2. A gall is a lump on a plant, such as an oak apple, made when an insect lays eggs in it. tree →
3. (old) Gall is bile, a bitter liquid from the liver; the gall bladder stores it. tree →
4. To gall someone is to annoy them a lot because it feels unfair. tree →

In the lessons

In everyday talk, «the gall of it!» shows outrage at rudeness. In science and nature lessons, oak galls are made by tiny wasps; long ago, oak galls were used to make ink. In body science, the gall bladder sits under the liver. In the Bible, «gall» means something very bitter.

Examples

• She had the gall to push in front of me. tree →
• What gall! He took my seat and asked for my pencil. tree →
• We found round galls on the oak leaves. tree →
• Old ink was made from oak galls. tree →
• The gall bladder is near the liver. tree →
• It galls me that he got the prize for my idea. tree →
• Wasps cause galls to grow on plants. tree →

Note

Uncountable in the «cheek» sense: «have the gall to do something». Adjective «galling» = annoying. Pronounced «gawl». Not to be confused with «Gaul» (old name for France) or «gal» (informal for girl).

In Jewish tradition

In the Torah "gall" means a bitter plant or poison, used as a picture of bitterness and wickedness.

Interpretation. In Sefer Yetzirah the gall is one of the body's organs, linked with anger and the "three foes" of liver, gall and tongue.

Examples

• For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter; (Torah DEU.32.32, JPS 1917) tree →
• Three foes: the liver and the gall and the tongue. (Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria community translation) tree →
• The only of the latter four terms found in humans is מָרָה marah ‘gall(bladder), bile’. (Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria community translation) tree →
• Remember mine affliction and mine anguish, the wormwood and the gall. (Writings LAM.3.19, JPS 1917) tree →
• He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail. (Writings LAM.3.5, JPS 1917) tree →
• Yet his food in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him. (Writings JOB.20.14, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

Uncountable in the «cheek» sense: «have the gall to do something». Adjective «galling» = annoying. Pronounced «gawl». Not to be confused with «Gaul» (old name for France) or «gal» (informal for girl).