bile

[ bahyl ]

noun

1. Physiology. a bitter, alkaline, yellow or greenish liquid, secreted by the liver, that aids in absorption and digestion, especially of fats.
2. ill temper; peevishness.
3. Old Physiology. either of two humors associated with anger and gloominess.

bile

¹

/ baɪl /

noun

1. a bitter greenish to golden brown alkaline fluid secreted by the liver and stored in the gall bladder. It is discharged during digestion into the duodenum, where it aids the emulsification and absorption of fats
2. irritability or peevishness
3. archaic.
   either of two bodily humours, one of which ( black bile ) was thought to cause melancholy and the other ( yellow bile ) anger

bile

²

/ bəɪl /

verb

1. a Scot word for boil 1

bile

/ bīl /

1. A bitter, alkaline, brownish-yellow or greenish-yellow fluid that is secreted by the liver, concentrated and stored in the gallbladder, and discharged into the duodenum of the small intestine. It helps in the digestion of fats and the neutralization of acids, such as the hydrochloric acid secreted by the stomach. Bile consists of salts, acids, cholesterol, lipids, pigments, and water.
2. ◆ Bile salts help in the emulsification, digestion, and absorption of fats.
3. ◆ Bile pigments are waste products formed by the breakdown of hemoglobin from old red blood cells.

bile

1. A bitter fluid produced by the liver and stored in the gallbladder . Bile is discharged into the small intestine when needed to aid in the digestion of fats ( see digestive system ).

Notes

Bile is sometimes used figuratively to denote bitterness in general: “His writing was full of bile.”

Word History and Origins

Origin of bile¹

First recorded in 1655–65; from French, from Latin bīlis; of disputed origin; compare Breton bestl, Medieval Cornish bystel, Welsh bustl

Word History and Origins

Origin of bile¹

C17: from French, from Latin bīlis , probably of Celtic origin; compare Welsh bustl bile

Example Sentences

No, his views of Trump and his rhetoric — “the hate and the division and the bile,” as Schiff described it — haven’t changed.

From Los Angeles Times

While ads for Vice President Kamala Harris are largely soothing promises of middle-class tax cuts, every Trump spot is maximum-volume bile.

From Salon

Musk’s conversion of Twitter from a publicly traded company to a personal plaything could kick up so much more bile than we saw in 2020, and 2020 sucked.

From Slate

There will be no pivot to the center, however unbelievable, when one’s top adviser is an extremist who posts racist bile while attending a memorial for victims of a terrorist attack.

From Salon

Mrs K, a patient at Wrexham Maelor hospital, died on 31 January 2022 from biliary sepsis, a serious infection of the bile ducts.

From BBC

Related Words

• acrimony
• animosity
• animus
• antagonism
• bad blood
• bitterness
• enmity
• grudge
• harshness
• hatred
• hostility
• ill will
• malice
• resentment
• venom