spleen

Meanings

Noun

• In vertebrates, including humans, a ductless vascular gland, located in the left upper abdomen near the stomach, which destroys old red blood cells, removes debris from the bloodstream, acts as a reservoir of blood, and produces lymphocytes.
• A bad mood; spitefulness.
• A sudden motion or action; a fit; a freak; a whim.
• Melancholy; hypochondriacal affections.
• A fit of immoderate laughter or merriment.

Verb

• To dislike.
• To annoy or irritate.
• To complain; to rail; to vent one's spleen.
• To remove the spleen, or, by extension, to gore.
• To excise or remove.

Related

Similar words

• milt ; lien

Origin

• From Middle English splene, splen, from Anglo-Norman espleen and Old French esplein, esplen, from Latin splēn, from Ancient Greek σπλήν. lien. Partially displaced the native English term milt.