▪ I. gall, n.1
(gɔːl)
Forms: 1 ᵹealla, (ealla), Anglian galla, 3–4 ȝalle, 3–6 galle, 4 gawle, 4–5 gal, gale, 6–7 gaule, 7–8 gaul, 7 gawl, 6–9 Sc. gaw, 4– gall.
[OE. ᵹealla wk. masc., agrees in meaning with OS. galia fem., MDu. galle fem., (Du. gal fem.), OHG. galla fem., (MHG. and G. galle fem.), and ON. gall str. neut. (but Swed. galle masc., galla fem., Da. galde com.):—OTeut. types *gallo{supm}, gallon-, -ôn-:—pre-Teut. *gholno-.
The pre-Teut. root *ghol-, *ghel-, which is represented also in Gr. χολή, χόλος, and in L. fel, is perhaps the same as that of OE. geolo yellow (:—OTeut. *gel-wo-), L. helvus, Gr. χλω-ρός, the gall being thus named from its colour.]
I. 1. a. The secretion of the liver, bile. Now applied only (exc. in Comb.) to that of the lower animals, esp. to ox gall (see ox) as used in the arts. (From the earliest period often used, like L. fel, F. fiel, etc., as the type of an intensely bitter substance.)
| c 825 Vesp. Psalter lxviii. 7 Saldun in mete minne gallan. c 1000 ælfric Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 160/40 Fel, uel bilis, ᵹealla. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. xxvii. 34 And hiᵹ sealdon hym win drincan wið eallan [MS. Bodl. ᵹeallan] ᵹemenged. c 1200 Vices & Virtues (1888) 119 Aȝeanes þat underfeng godd ðe bit r)e ȝalle on his muðe. a 1225 Ancr. R. 106 He smeihte galle on his tunge. a 1300 Cursor M. 24046 Þai gaf him gall to drinc. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iv. 1109 (1137) The woofull teres þat þei letyn fall As bitter wer..as is ligne Aloes or gall. 14.. Metr. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 627/8 Fel, gal. a 1547 Surrey Ps. lxxiii. 22 Lyke cupps myngled with gall, of bitter tast and saver. 1615 Crooke Body of Man 43 The bladder of Gaul purgeth away the Choller from that meate. 1732 Arbuthnot Rules of Diet 405 Gall is the greatest Resolvent of curdled Milk. 1795 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Pindariana Wks. 1812 IV. 218 Tis sweetness tempts the insects from the skies; Gall needeth not a flapper for the flies. 1860 C. Sangster Sonn. 176 The sweat oozed from me like great drops of gall. |
b. fig. with reference to the bitterness of gall. to dip one's pen in gall, to write with virulence and rancour. (Cf. quot. 1641 in sense 3 a.)
Probably derived from instances like those in quots. 1601, 1605, where there appears to be a pun on gall n.3 (the oak-gall, which is used in the manufacture of ink).
| c 1200 Ormin 15419 To birrlenn firrst te swete win and siþþenn bitterr galle. a 1300 Cursor M. 25729 Hony þai bede and gif vs gall. a 1415 Lydg. Temp. Glass 192 Allas þat euer þat it shuld[e] fal, So soote sugre Icoupled be with gal! [1601 Shakes. Twel. N. iii. ii. 52 Let there bee gaulle enough in thy inke, though thou write with a goose⁓pen, no matter: about it. 1605 1st Pt. Ieronimo ii. iii. 14 Ier. What, is your pen foule? Hor. No, Father, cleaner then Lorenzoes soule; Thats dipt in inck made of an enuious gall; Elce had my pen no cause to write at all.] 1611 Middleton & Dekker Roaring Girle iii. D.'s Wks. 1873 III. 181 Loues sweets tast best, when we haue drunk downe Gall. 1624 Quarles Div. Poems, Job xii. 88 His Plenty..shall Be Hony, tasted, but digested, Gall. 1750 J. Dove Creed founded on Truth 15, I shall omit the Consideration of the particular Reasons of these Differences, because I would not dip my pen in Gall. 1752 Mason Elfrida 56 Relentless Conscience Pours more of gall into the bitter cup Of their severe repentance. 1824 W. Irving T. Trav. II. 53 And yet was free from the gall of disappointment. 1828 Imperial Mag. Apr. 362/1 In the same spirit of bitter enmity..the Doctor has dipped his pen in gall, to blast the memory of that good man. 1892 Rev. Reviews V. 376/1 In the Contemporary Review for April an anonymous writer dips his pen in gall in order to depict the German Emperor. 1946 W. S. Maugham Then & Now 228 His pen had been dipped in gall and as he wrote he chuckled with malice. |
c. in Biblical phrases.
| 1382 Wyclif Lam. iii. 19 Recorde of porenesse and of myn ouergoing, and of wrmod and of galle. ― Acts viii. 23 Forsoth in galle of bittirnesse and bond of wickidnesse I se thee for to be. 1726–46 Thomson Winter 1055 Why the good man's share In life was gall and bitterness of soul. 1893 Times 25 Apr. 10/1 A Bill the very idea of which is gall and wormwood to the Protestant artisans. |
2. a. The gall-bladder and its contents.
| c 1200 Ormin 1259 Forr cullfre iss milde, and meoc, and swete and all wiþþutenn galle. c 1330 Arth. & Merl. 7176 Þat schulder & arm & ribbes alle He doun kitt wiþ liuer & ȝalle. 1390 Gower Conf. III. 100 The drie coler with his hete, By wey of kinde his propre sete Hath in the galle, where he dwelleth. c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 172 Of þe galle we makiþ noon anothamie, for al oure science makiþ noon mencioun of a wounde in þe galle. c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 56 To have a galle, and be clepid a douffe..It may wele ryme, but it accordith nought. 1541 R. Copland Guydon's Quest. Chirurg. I ij a, What is y⊇ galle?.. It is a bag or bladder panyculous set in the holownes of the lyuer. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. ii. vi, He..did..wast his inward gall with deepe despight. 1635 Heywood Hierarch. vii. 416 Her Gall being burst, she would be seene to swim. 1671 Salmon Syn. Med. iii. xxii. 403 Ground-Ivy, it is a wound-herb, opens the Lungs and Gall, cleanses the Reins. 1743 Lond. & Country Brew. ii. (ed. 2) 151 Two different Juices from the Gaul and Sweet-bread. 1820 Blackw. Mag. VII. 470 Only a gut, a gaw, and a gizzard. 1897 M. Kingsley W. Africa 543 The gall⁓bladder is most carefully removed from the leopard and burnt coram publico..This burning of the gall, however..is done merely to destroy it. |
† b. Short for ‘sickness of the gall’, a disease in cattle. Obs.
| 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iii. (1586) 135 b, margin, The Gal, or Yellows [In the text: The sicknesse of the Gall is knowen by the running eies (etc.)]. |
3. a. Bitterness of spirit, asperity, rancour (supposed to have its seat in the gall: see 1390 in sense 2).
| c 1200 Ormin 1253 And arrt te sellf aȝȝ milde and meoc annd all wiþþutenn galle. a 1340 Hampole Psalter, Song Hezekiah 497 Wiþouten gall of yre and wickidnes. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xvi. 155 Falsenesse I fynde in þi faire speche, And gyle in þi gladde chere, and galle is in þi lawghynge. 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. II. 43/1 A pleasant conceited companion, full of mirth without gall. 1641 J. Jackson True Evang. T. ii. 152 Breaches of charity..by virulencie and gall of our pennes, and by the violence of our hands. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. III. xlviii. 29 Their votaries have exhausted the bitterness of religious gall. 1849 Robertson Serm. Ser. i. xxi. (1866) 349 The bitterness which changes the milk of kindly feelings into gall. 1887 Hall Caine Deemster xxxvi. 236 Fellows who had shown ruth for the first time, began to show gall for the hundredth. |
† b. Spirit to resent injury or insult. Obs.
| 1390 Gower Conf. I. 303 And if it fal..A man to lese so his galle Him aught..the name bere of pacient. c 1450 Cokwolds Daunce 96 in Hazl. E.P.P. I. 42 And ȝet for all hys grete honour, Cokwold was Kyng Arthour, Ne galle non he had. 1604 Shakes. Oth. iv. iii. 93 We haue galles: and though we haue some Grace, Yet haue we some Reuenge. c 1680 Beveridge Serm. (1729) I. 130 If there be any such thing as gall in us. |
† c. Hence, to break one's gall: in early use, to break the spirit, cow, subdue; in later slang (see quot. 1785). Obs.
| c 1460 Towneley Myst. xxiii. 589, I warand you..That he shall soyn yelde the gast, ffor brestyn is his gall. 1508 Dunbar Flyting w. Kennedie 183 Obey, theif baird, or I sal brek thy gaw. c 1530 Remedie of Love lxv, in Chaucer's Wks. (1532) 368 a/1 Whiche she perceyuyng brasteth his gal And anon his great wodenesse dothe fal. 1586 J. Hooker Girald. Irel. in Holinshed II. 142/2 The deputie, when he had broken the galles of them, & had thus dispersed them..returned towards Dublin. 1625–6 Purchas Pilgrims ii. 1638, I still defied them..which in a manner broke their very galls. 1785 Grose Dict. Vulg. Tongue s.v., His gall is not yet broken, a saying used in prisons of a man just brought in, who appears melancholy and dejected. |
4. Assurance, impudence. orig. U.S. slang.
| 1882 Denver Republican 23 Jan. 4/1 There is only one word which thoroughly expresses the quality of Dr. Anderson's communication. That word is the strong expression, ‘gall’. 1890 Cambridge (Mass.) Frozen Truth 28 Nov. 2/3 And ‘gall’, of which Joe always had plenty, especially as a politician. 1891 Voice (N.Y.) 31 July, With infinite ‘gall’ he has opened an office for the sale of ‘original packages’ only a few feet away. 1936 ‘I. Hay’ Housemaster xvi. 210 And what do you think they had the gall to do then? 1948 Wodehouse Spring Fever xv. 153 He was a young man abundantly equipped with what he called sang froid and people who did not like him usually alluded to as gall. |
II. In certain transferred uses.
† 5. Poison, venom. Obs.
[Traces of a confusion between the notions of ‘bitter’ and ‘poisonous’ are found in many langs. (see, e.g., Deut. xxxii. 32–34); it was also anciently believed that the venom of serpents, etc. was produced from their gall (Plin. N.H. xi. cxciii). Cf. ‘sagitta armata felle veneni’, Virg. æn. xii. 857.]
| 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 6755 Galle of draguns þair wyne sal be, And wenym of snakes þar-with. 1382 Wyclif Deut. xxxii. 33 Gal of dragouns the wyne of hem, and venym of eddres vncurable. a 1450 Le Morte Arth. 1654 How in an appelle he dede the galle. |
6. gall of the earth [L. fel terræ, F. fiel de terre]: a name given to the Lesser Centaury, from its bitterness: cf. earth-gall (earth n.1 B. II). Also applied to other plants.
| 1567 J. Maplet Gr. Forest 37 Centorie is called the bitter Herbe..some cal it the gal of the earth. 1605 Timme Quersit. iii. 148 Out of the lesser centaurie, which some call the gaule of the earth, much salt is extracted. 1848 Craig, Gall of the earth, a name given in North America to the plant Sonchus floridanus, a species of the Sow-thistle. |
7. The scum of melted glass [F. fiel de verre]: see glass-gall.
III. 8. Comb., as gall-like adj. Also gall-bag, -cyst, the vessel containing the gall = gall-bladder; gall-drop, a drop of gall or bitterness; gall-duct, -passage, -pipe, the tube through which the bile passes; gall-sickness [= Du. galziekte, Ger. gallsucht], (a) a form of intermittent fever, common in the Netherlands (Syd. Soc. Lex.); (b) the name [tr. Du. galziekte] given in South Africa to diseases of the liver in cattle, sheep, and goats; † gall's purse = gall-bag; † gall-wet a., steeped in gall or bitterness. Also gall-bladder, gall-stone.
| 1625 Hart Anat. Ur. i. ii. 15 A yellow..colour of the skinne doth better declare any obstruction of the *gall-bagge..then the vrine. |
| 1794 Coleridge Death Chatterton 109 For oh! big *gall-drops..Have blackened the fair promise of thy spring. |
| 1702 J. Purcell Cholick (1714) 49 The Preternatural Position of Parts; as of the *Gall-duct inserted into the Stomach. 1876 Clin. Soc. Trans. IX. 85 The fissure was chiefly occupied superficially by a very dilated gall-duct, so large that the index finger entered it readily on opening it. |
| 1605 Timme Quersit. i. xvi. 85 They abounde with a certaine *gaulike bitternesse. |
| 1676 Cooke Marrow Chirurg. 390 In it [the Duodenum] are inserted the *Gall⁓passage, Ductus Choledochus & Ductus Wirtzungianus or Pancreaticus. |
| 1712 Blackmore Creation vi. 520 Which..striving thro' the *Gall-pipe, here unload Their yellow Streams, more to refine the Flood. |
| 1875 J. Noble Descrip. Handbk. Cape Colony 259 The ‘gal zeickte’ or *gall sickness is also a common disease. 1896 R. Wallace Farm. Industr. Cape Col. 288 Deaths in Cape Colony from gall-sickness. 1953 Official Yr. Bk. Union S. Afr. 1950 XXVI. i. xix. 914 Anaplasma marginale, the cause of gallsickness in cattle. |
| 1528 Paynel Salerne's Regim. B iij b, The other necessite is in respecte of the *galles purse. |
| 1597–8 Bp. Hall Virgid., Sat. ii. Prol., With *gall-weet words and speeches rude, Controls the maners of the multitude. |
▪ II. gall, n.2
(gɔːl)
Forms: 1 ᵹealla, 4–6 galle, 4–7 gaule, 7 gal, 6–9 Sc. gaw, 6– gall.
[OE. ᵹealla wk. masc., a sore on a horse, corresponds in meaning to MSw. galle wk. masc., MLG., MHG., mod.G. galle fem., Du. gal fem.; in Ger. and Du. the word has or has had (see Grimm Wb. and the Nederl. Woordenb.) the senses ‘pimple or blister generally, barren spot in a field, flaw or rotten place in a rock’, etc. All these words are in the several langs. formally identical with those repr. gall n.1, and it seems not unlikely that they may be actually identical; the notion of ‘venom’ (gall n.1 5) passes easily into that of ‘envenomed sore’ (cf. felon n.2); the other senses illustrated below may be explained as referring to the gall as a part of the carcass which has to be removed as useless and offensive. The ON. and MSw. galle wk. masc., ‘fault, defect’ (in phrases equivalent to ‘without gall’), seems to admit of the same explanation.
It is, however, probable that words of different etymology have influenced the sense-development in the Eng. and other Teut. langs. In the Rom. langs. the word for gall n.3 (F. galle, It. gala, Sp. agalla) was used for a swelling on the fetlock of a horse (= Ger. floszgalle, windgalle, Eng. windgall), and Ger. writers of the 16th c. argue that the word ought, being a transferred use of galle gall-nut, to be limited to this specific meaning. In Eng. the word seems to have been influenced (through gall v.) by OF. galler, galer to rub, scratch, gall: possibly also by F. gale fem., itch, scurf, scab (also, flaw in cloth, whence Du. gaal); the source of these words is unknown, one suggestion being that they are derived from L. galla gall n.3]
1. Originally, a painful swelling, pustule, or blister, esp. in a horse (cf. windgall). In later use (? influenced by gall v.), a sore or wound produced by rubbing or chafing.
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 156 Wið horses ᵹeallan. Lacna ðone ᵹeallan mid [etc.]. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 185/1 Galle, soore yn mann or beeste, strumus, marista [? = marisca, hæmorrhoid ?]. 1514 Barclay Cyt. & Uplondyshm. (Percy Soc.) p. ix, See how my handes are with many a gall, And stiffe as a borde by worke continuall. 1571 Satir. Poems Reform. xxvi. 167 Tuiche anis the gaw and yan the hors wil fling, Fra tyme ye spur and hit him on the quik. 1600 Holland Livy xxviii. xxvii. (1609) 681 Full against my will I touch these points, as sores and gals [vulnera] that will not abide the rubbing. 1702 Lond. Gaz. No. 3807/4 Lost or Stolen..a brown Bay Horse..a Gall on the near side. 1855 Kingsley Westw. Ho! (1889) 329 He only got one shrewd gall in his thigh. |
† b. In specific applications (see quots.). Obs.
| 1575 Turberv. Faulconrie 345 Divers times there rise up knubbes upon ye feete of hawkes, as upon the feete of Capons, which some call Galles and some goutes. 1741 Compl. Fam.-Piece iii. 504 Of the Gall in Swine..This Distemper shews itself by a Swelling that appears under the Jaw. |
† c. to claw, rub, hit on the gall: fig. to touch (a person) on a sore or tender point. Also absol. Obs.
| c 1386 Chaucer Wife's T. 84 Ther is noon of vs alle If any wight wol clawe vs on the galle That we nel kike for he seith vs sooth. 1523 Skelton Garl. Laurel 97 Yet wrote he none ill Sauynge he rubbid sum vpon the gall. 1585 Abp. Sandys Serm. xiv. 242 Herod heard John gladly while hee carped others, but hee could not abide to bee rubbed on the gall himselfe. 1640 Sanderson Serm. II. 172 We shall scarce read a chapter, or hear a sermon, but we shall meet with something or other that seemeth to rub upon that gaul. |
2. fig. Something galling or exasperating; a state of mental soreness or irritation.
| 1591 Troub. Raigne K. John ii. (1611) 104 The other griefe, I that's a gall indeed, To thinke that Douer castle should hold out Gainst all assaults. 1596 Spenser State Irel. (Globe) 612/2 They did great hurt unto his title, and have left a perpetuall gall in the myndes of that people. a 1626 Bp. Andrewes Serm. x. (1661) 462 The gals, that sin makes in the conscience, are the entering of the iron into our soul. 1832 Lytton Eugene A. i. ix, In a few days he might be rid of the gall and the pang. 1880 Mrs. Parr Adam & Eve xxxi. 421 This..was a gall which of late she had been frequently called upon to endure. |
† 3. A person or thing that harasses or distresses.
| 1537 St. Papers Hen. VIII, II. 411 Theise men, being inhabited in soch a gall of the countrie as thei be, been soche a staye and lett to the King that onles thei be subdued, His Grace shall never be in securitie. 1596 Spenser State Irel. (Globe) 645/1 It is both a principall barre and impeachement unto theeves..and also a gall agaynst all rebells and outlawes. Ibid. 654/1 For if they [the Irish] might be suffred to remayne about the garrison..they would..be ever after such a gall and inconvenience unto them, as that [etc.]. |
† b. Galling or harassing effect. Obs.
| 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VI, 112 b, The Frenchmen, not able to abide the smart, and gaules of the arrowes, fled a pace. |
4. A place rubbed bare; an unsound spot, fault or flaw; in early use also a breach. Now only techn.
| 1545 R. Ascham Toxoph. (Arb.) 114 A bowe..not marred with knot, gaule, wyndeshake, wem, freate or pynche. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 1105 They..with great labour and industrie repairing the breaches and gaules made by the artillerie. 1617 Markham Caval. ii. 203 Being comd into some large and even hie-way, without either ruttes or gaules to occasion stumbling. 1618 W. Lawson New Orch. & Garden (1623) 23 Young twigs are tender, if boughs or armes touch and rub, if they are strong, they make great galls. 1639 [see fret n.2 1]. 1721 Kelly Sc. Prov. 218 It is a good Tree that hath neither Knap nor Gaw. 1787 Best Angling ii. (1822) 12 Angling line. To make this line..you are to take care that your hair be round and clear, and free from galls, scales or frets. 1881 Greener Gun 268 In the cheaper grades a few small shakes, galls, and want of figure are not accounted faults. |
b. Sc. A fault, dike.
| 1805 Forsyth Beauties Scotl. II. 470 The coal-field from Saltcoats to Garnock is cut into three parts by two great dikes or natural walls of whinstone..here termed galls. |
5. A bare spot in a field or coppice (see gall v.1 3). In the southern U.S. a spot where the soil has been washed away or exhausted.
| 1573 Tusser Husb. li. (1878) 114 Bare plots full of galles if ye plow ouerthwart, and compas it then, is a husbandlie part. 1710 D. Hilman Tusser Rediv. Jan. 7 Gauls are void Spaces in Coppices which serve for nothing but to entice the Cattel into it, to its great Damage. 1790 W. Marshall Midl. Counties II. 437 Gloss., Galls, vacant or bald places in a crop. 1813 Sir J. Cullum Hist. Hawsted & Hardwick iii, Sand-galls, spots of sand in a field where water oozes, or, as we say, ‘spews up’; and lands where such spots are frequent, are called galty lands. 1879 G. F. Jackson Shropsh. Word-bk., Gall..(3), a stiff, wet, ‘unkind’, place in plough-land. 1891 T. N. Page Ole Virginia 140 The log cabin, set in a gall in the middle of an old field all grown up in sassafras. |
† 6. Filth, impurity; fig. ‘the offscourings’, refuse. Obs. [With galle oþer glet in the first quot., cf. early mod.Ger. voller galle und glesz (Grimm), said of a rock full of unsound places. Cf. also gall n.1 7.]
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. A. 1059 With-outen fylþe oþer galle oþer glet. Ibid. C. 285 Thaȝ I be gulty of gyle as gaule of prophetes. |
7. Comb., as † gall-rubbed a., rubbed in such a way as to be chafed; gall-spot, a mark produced by chafing.
| 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Bone Spavin, Take the Root of Elecampane..wrap it in a Paper and roast it soft, and after it is *gall-rubb'd and chafed well, clap it on. |
| 1713 Lond. Gaz. No. 5157/4 Some white *Gall-spots on her Withers. |
▪ III. gall, n.3
(gɔːl)
Forms: 4–6 galle, 6–7 gaul(e, gawle, 8 gawl, 5– gall.
[a. F. galle = It. gala, Sp. galla (in Minsheu galha):—L. galla the oak-apple, gall-nut; Sp. has also agalla.]
1. An excrescence produced on trees, especially the oak, by the action of insects, chiefly of the genus Cynips. Oak-galls are largely used in the manufacture of ink and tannin, as well as in dyeing and in medicine.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. civ. (Tollem. MS.), The mall (Mandragora) haþ white leues..and apples groweþ on þe leues, as galles groweþ on oken leues. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 185/1 Galle of appulle, or oþer frute (P. galle, oke appyll, galla). 1481 Caxton Myrr. i. xviii. 57 Neyther montayne ne valeye..taketh not away fro therthe his roundenesse no more than the galle leueth to be rounde for his prickis. 1562 Turner Herbal ii. 109 b, A gall is the fruite of an oke and specially of the lefe. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme 28 He shall know a fruitfull and fertile yeare, if he see in the Oke apples, commonly called Gals, a Flie engendred and bred. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 389 To these add pounded Galls, and Roses dry. 1776–96 Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) II. 388 The balls, or galls upon the leaves, are occasioned by a small insect with four wings. 1842 Tennyson Talking Oak 70, I swear (and else may insects prick Each leaf into a gall). 1869 [see case n.2 2 c]. 1882 Garden 14 Oct. 335/2 Another very interesting gall is the Artichoke gall..so called from its somewhat resembling in form a Globe Artichoke. |
2. attrib. and Comb. a. simple attrib., as gall-knob; also in the names of various insects producing galls, as gall-beetle, gall-gnat, gall-insect, gall-louse, gall-mite, gall-moth, gall-wasp; b. objective, as gall-bearing, gall-making, gall-producing adjs. Also gall-apple = sense 1; gall-berry, gallberry U.S., a holly (Ilex glabra or I. coriacea); also attrib.; gall-bush U.S., the gall-berry bush; gall-leaf, a leaf upon which a gall is formed; gall-oak, † -tree, the oak (Quercus infectoria) upon which are produced the galls of commerce; gall-steep, ‘a bath of nutgalls, for the process of galling in Turkey-red dyeing’ (Cassell); gall-wasp, a gall-producing, hymenopterous insect of the family Cynipidæ. Also gall-fly, gall-nut.
| 1612 Woodall Surg. Mate Wks. (1653) 203 *Gall-apples or Gals is thereto a good medicine. 1828 De Quincey Toilette Hebr. Lady in Blackw. Mag. XXIII. 297 A preparation of vinegar and gall-apples. |
| 1851 Layard Pop. Acc. Discov. Nineveh vi. 117 The valley of Berwari is well wooded with the *gall-bearing oak. |
| 1709 J. Lawson New Voyage Carolina 90 *Gall-Berry-Tree, bearing a black Berry, with which the Women dye their Cloathes and Yarn black. 1834 J. J. Audubon Ornith. Biogr. II. 191 The holly,..the gall-berry, and the poke, are those which they first attack. 1901 C. Mohr Plant Life Alabama 816 With gallberry bushes for the undergrowth. 1938 M. K. Rawlings Yearling i. 7 Open gallberry flats spread without obstructions. Ibid. iv. 40 The gallberry bushes. 1962 Kurz & Godfrey Trees of N. Florida 205 The large or sweet gallberry (Ilex coriacea) is more often seen as a shrub than a tree. It is not uncommonly associated with the shrubby, bitter gallberry, Ilex glabra (L.) Gray. |
| 1728 in N. Caroline Col. Rec. (1886) II. 802 They measured..16 chains and 70 links to a *Gall Bush. 1835 J. Martin Gaz. Virginia 41 An ever-green shrub, called the gall-bush,..bears a berry which dies a black color like the gall of an oak—and hence its name. |
| 1759 B. Stillingfl. Econ. Nat. in Misc. Tracts (1762) 86 When the *gall-insect called cynips, has fixed her eggs in the leaves of an oak, the wound of the leaf swells. |
| 1892 L. F. Day Nat. in Ornam. ii. 23 In the poplar too, the prominent *gall-knob at the base of the leaf-stalk is distinctly characteristic. |
| 1865 E. Peacock in Athenæum 18 Mar. 388 When this happens, the *gall-leaves become prominent objects. |
| 1868 Wood Homes without H. xxvi. 505 There are also *gall-making insects among the Diptera. |
| 1881 E. A. Ormerod Man. Inj. Ins. 179 The diseased growths formed of irregular masses of twigs..are caused by this *Gall-mite. |
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal Table Eng. Names, *Gall tree, and *Gall oke with his kinds. 1835 Booth Analyt. Dict. 91 The Quercus insectifera, or Gall-oak, is a native of Asia. |
| 1859 Darwin Orig. Spec. i. (1872) 6 The complex and extraordinary out-growths which invariably follow from the insertion of a minute drop of poison by a *gall-producing insect. |
| 1879 Encycl. Brit. X. 44/1 Among the Hymenoptera are the *gall-wasps. 1925 Glasgow Herald 28 June 4 The rose gall-wasp (Rhodites). 1965 L. H. Newman Man & Insects i. 86 Many of the gall wasps have alternating generations. |
▪ IV. gall, v.1
(gɔːl)
Forms: 5–7 galle, 6 guall, 6–7 gaule, 6–9 gaul, 7–8 gawl, 6–9 Sc. gaw, 6– gall.
[f. gall n.2; app. orig. a back-formation from galled ppl. a.2; the sense may have been influenced by association with OF. galler ‘to gall, fret, itch; also, to rub, scrape, scrub, claw, scratch where it itcheth’ (Cotgr.).]
1. trans. To make sore by chafing or rubbing.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 185/1 Gallyn, or make gallyd, strumo. 1530 Palsgr. 560/1, I galle a horse backe with sadell or otherwyse, je refoulle. Ibid., I gall, as one dothe his buttockes with rydyng, je me escorche les fesses. 1602 Shakes. Ham. v. i. 153 The toe of the Pesant comes so neere the heeles of our Courtier, hee galls his Kibe. 1696 tr. Du Mont's Voy. Levant 34 My Horse, who was gall'd under the Saddle-Bow. 1703 Moxon Mech. Exerc. 201 The Pole..may draw..your Thigh against the underside of the Cheek of the Lathe, and..Gawl, and also tire your Thigh. 1782 Cowper Gilpin 76 The snorting beast began to trot, Which gall'd him in his seat. 1821 J. Baillie Met. Leg., Columbus xlii, Base irons his noble pris'ner gall. 1844 Alb. Smith Adv. Mr. Ledbury lv. (1886) 168 [His] feet were somewhat galled with the hard walking of the previous days. |
† b. to gall off: to rub off, remove by chafing.
| 1602 Marston Ant. & Mel. ii. Wks. 1856 I. 21 Her wit stings, blisters, galles off the skinne. 1677 Lond. Gaz. No. 1220/4 A dapple gray Gelding..the hair being gauled off of his breast, by drawing in a Coach. 1694 Ibid. No. 3027/4 The hair is galled off from the off Thigh and Ribs. |
2. To fret or injure (inanimate objects) by rubbing or contact.
| 1600 Hakluyt Voy. III. 66 The Gabriell..had her Cable gauld asunder with a piece of driuing yce. 1618 W. Lawson New Orch. & Garden (1623) 22 You shall see the tops of trees rubd off, their sides galled like a galled horses backe. 1693 Evelyn De la Quint. Compl. Gard. 19 Make several holes in the Earth with some Iron-Pin..but withal so cautiously, as not to gall any of the Roots. 1793 Trans. Soc. Arts XI. 21 We..cut out every branch that was decayed or galled. 1796 C. Marshall Garden. viii. (1813) 106 Take care to fix the stake firmly, and to tie the tree so with a firm hay band that it may not easily get galled. |
† 3. To break the surface of, produce furrows or cavities in (ground, soil), to fret or wash away. Obs.
| 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. III. 1223/2 Three men riding vpon the causeie, being then ouerflowne..chanced to come into a place where the water had galled awaie the earth. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 537 The light sands in many places gauled deepe with the wind, wonderfully troubleth the wearie passengers. 1691 Ray Creation i. (1704) 103 It would gall the ground, wash away Plants by the Roots, overthrow Houses. |
4. fig. To vex, harass, oppress. (Chiefly said of a metaphorical ‘yoke’, ‘fetters’, or ‘harness’.)
| 1614 Raleigh Hist. World ii. i. §12. 232 The neckes of mortall men hauing been neuer before gawled with the yoke of forraine dominion. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. II. 484 Long and heavily did the Tartar yoke gall the neck of Russia. a 1839 Praed Poems (1864) II. 129 And though its links be firmly set, I never found them gall me yet. 1863 Geo. Eliot Romola i. xvi, Our old Florentine trick of choosing a new harness when the old one galls us. |
5. To harass or annoy in warfare (esp. with arrows or shot).
| 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VI, 124 b, The dastarde people..galled and wounded with the shot of the arrowes. 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. III. 966/2 With shot of the English archers were so curried and galled that they were driuen to retire. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 535 As much as they could shunned to encounter their enemies with their horsemen, labouring only to gaule them with shot. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 446 Flights of Arrows from the Parthian Bows, When from afar they gaul embattel'd Foes. 1731 J. Gray Gunnery Pref. 17 By these engines they gauled the enemy at a distance. 1814 Scott Ld. of Isles i. xxix, Where bowmen might in ambush wait,..To gall an entering foe. 1865 M. Arnold Ess. Crit. vii. (1875) 270 The surrounding multitudes galled them from a distance with a cloud of arrows. |
6. To harass or annoy mentally, render sore in spirit, irritate.
| 1573 G. Harvey Letter-bk. (Camden) 18 So that I have not yit bene so courst and gald in our own Hous, as I am like hereafter to be pincht and nipt in the Regent Hous. 1597 Montgomerie Cherrie & Slae 1205 Quhen Hope was gawd into the quick. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. i. ii. iv. iv. 196 Many men are as much gauled with a calumny, scurrile & bitter iest, a libel, a pasquill..as with any misfortune whatsoeuer. 1703 Rowe Fair Penit. i. i. 129 Ere long I mean to meet 'em Face to Face And gaul 'em with my Triumph. 1791 Boswell Johnson May an. 1738, Cramped and galled by narrow circumstances. 1831 Lytton Godolphin 4 You will delight to gall their vanities. |
† b. intr. to gall at: to scoff at. Obs.
| 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, v. i. 77, I haue seene you gleeking and galling at this Gentleman twice or thrice. |
7. intr. To become sore or chafed. † Also fig.
| 1614 B. Jonson Barth. Fair ii. i, Thou'lt gall between the tongue and the teeth, with fretting. 1721 Ramsay El. Patie Birnie 88 He gaw'd fou sair. 1737 Bracken Farriery Impr. (1756) I. 332, I..am very apt to gall and have the Skin fretted off. Ibid. II. 161 A young Horse's Back..will fret, gall, and be full of Warbles, with even the least Journey. |
† b. ? To crack. (Cf. gall n.2 4.) Obs. rare—1.
| 1770–4 A. Hunter Georg. Ess. (1803) I. 515 The wood looked well, and did not seem to gall or warp so much as Fir of the same age and seasoning would have done. |
▪ V. gall, v.2 Dyeing.
(gɔːl)
[f. gall n.3]
trans. To impregnate with a decoction of galls.
| 1581 [cf. galled ppl. a.3]. 1822 J. Imison Sc. & Art II. 194 Silk is dyed black as follows. After boiling it with soap, it is galled, and afterwards washed. 1853 Ure Dict. Arts I. 180 For the dyeing of raw silk black, it is galled in the cold, with the bath of galls which has already served for the black of boiled silk. |