Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of, relating to, or containing bile; biliary.
  • adjective Characterized by an excess secretion of bile.
  • adjective Relating to, characterized by, or experiencing gastric distress caused by a disorder of the liver or gallbladder.
  • adjective Appearing as if affected by such a disorder; sickly.
  • adjective Resembling bile, especially in color.
  • adjective Having a peevish disposition; ill-humored.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Of or pertaining to, or partaking of the nature of, bile.
  • In pathology, noting, subject to, or characterized by a disordered condition of the system, once supposed to depend on a derangement of the secretion of bile, marked by anorexia, furred tongue, a bad taste in the mouth, dull headache, drowsiness, disturbed sleep, with general malaise and depression.
  • Suffering from biliousness.
  • Figuratively, choleric; testy; cross.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Of or pertaining to the bile.
  • adjective Disordered in respect to the bile; troubled with an excess of bile; ; dependent on, or characterized by, an excess of bile.
  • adjective Choleric; passionate; ill tempered.
  • adjective See Temperament.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Suffering from real or supposed liver disorder, thus making one ill-natured.
  • adjective Of or pertaining to something containing or consisting of bile.
  • adjective Irritable or bad tempered; irascible.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective irritable as if suffering from indigestion
  • adjective relating to or containing bile
  • adjective suffering from or suggesting a liver disorder or gastric distress

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin bīliōsus ("full of bile"), from bīlis ("bile") + -ōsus ("full of").

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Examples

Comments

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  • Remember that you are a human being with a soul and the divine gift of articulate speech: that your native language is the language of Shakespeare and Milton and The Bible; and don't sit there crooning like a bilious pigeon.

    -Pygmalion, George Bernard Shaw

    August 3, 2009