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spleen

Pronunciation: /spliːn/

The English word “spleen” has 10 meanings listed here.

noun

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

verb

  1. To dislike.
  2. To annoy or irritate.
  3. To complain; to rail; to vent one's spleen.
  4. To remove the spleen, or, by extension, to gore.
  5. To excise or remove.

Etymology

From Middle English splene, splen, from Anglo-Norman espleen and Old French esplein, esplen, from Latin splēn (“milt”), from Ancient Greek σπλήν (splḗn, “the spleen”). Doublet of lien. Partially displaced the native English term milt.

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.