Definition of "gall"

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.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Job 20:24–25

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

c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, (please specify the page)

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.

1791 (date written), Mary Wollstonecraft, “Chapter V”, in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects, 1st American edition, Boston, Mass.: […] Peter Edes for Thomas and Andrews, […], published 1792

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

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

“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.

1917, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter 6, in The Oakdale Affair‎

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

1989 National Ag Safety Database (Centers for Disease Control)

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;

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Deuteronomy 29:18

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

1683, John Dryden, The Art of Poetry

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

1847 December, Ellis Bell [pseudonym; Emily Brontë], chapter XIV, in Wuthering Heights, volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Thomas Cautley Newby, […]

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

1892, Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself”, in Leaves of Grass […], Philadelphia, Pa.: David McKay, publisher, […]

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.

1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, “‘Pieces of Eight’”, in Treasure Island, London, Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, part V (My Sea Adventure), page 219

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.

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

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.

June 24, 1778, George Washington, The Writings of George Washington From the Original Manuscript Sources: Volume 12, 1745–1799

[…] 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.

1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], 3rd edition, London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], published 1719

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

1979 December, Mark Bowden, “Captivity Pageant”, in The Atlantic, volume 296, number 5, pages 92–97

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

1599, 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, [Act V, scene i]

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.

1974, Philip P. Wiener, editor, Dictionary of the History of Ideas‎

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.

1653, Izaak Walton, chapter 21, in The Compleat Angler‎

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

1815, Thomas Cooper, A Practical Treatise on Dyeing, and Callicoe Printing