Dictionary

bilious en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˈbɪl.i.əs/ (UK)
• /ˈbɪl.i.əs/ (General-American)
• /ˈbɪl.jəs/ (General-American)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From French bilieux, from Latin bīliōsus (“full of bile”), from bīlis (“bile”) + -ōsus (“full of”).

Meanings

1. Of or pertaining to something containing or consisting of bile.
2. Resembling bile, especially in color.
   • Does money fail?—come to my mint—coin paper, Till gold be at a discount, and ashamed To show his bilious face, go purge himself, In emulation of her vestal whiteness. 1820, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Oedipus Tyrannus; Or, Swellfoot The Tyrant: A Tragedy in Two Acts:
   • His complexion was pale, not of that deadly pallor which is a kind of neutral beauty, but of a bilious, yellow hue; his colorless hair was short and scarcely extended beyond the circle formed by the hat around his head, and his light blue eyes seemed destitute of any expression. 1845, Alexandre Dumas, chapter 31, in Twenty Years After:
   • The business-center of Schoenstrom took up one side of one block, facing the railroad. It was a row of one-story shops covered with galvanized iron, or with clapboards painted red and bilious yellow. 1920, Sinclair Lewis, chapter 3, in Main Street:
   • A beautiful girl once told me of a recurring nightmare in which she lay in the center of a large dark room and felt her face expand until it filled the whole room, becoming a formless mass while her eyes ran in bilious jelly up the chimney. 1952, Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man, prologue:
3. Suffering from real or supposed liver disorder, especially excessive secretions of bile.
   • Perry tells me that Mr. Cole never touches malt liquor. You would not think it to look at him, but he is bilious—Mr. Cole is very bilious. 1815, Jane Austen, Emma, volume II, chapter 7:
4. Peevishly ill-humored, irritable or bad tempered; irascible.
   • The glorified spirit of a great statesman and philosopher dawdling, like a bilious old Nabob at a watering-place, over quarterly reviews and novels—dropping in to pay long calls—making excursions in search of the picturesque! 1830 January 14, Thomas Macaulay, “[Review of] Southey's Colloquies on Society”, in The Edinburgh Review, page 536:
   • The boarders, sharp-tongued bilious widows, pursued the only man in the establishment, a mild, bald creature who worked in La Samaritaine […] 1934, George Orwell, Burmese Days:

Forms

Antonyms

pleasant · amiable · even-tempered · genial · good-natured

Deriveds

bilious vomiting syndrome · biliousness · nervo-bilious · nonbilious · sanguineobilious · biliously · antibilious · unbilious

Relateds

atrabilious · bile

Synonyms

testy · splenetic · irascible · peevish · choleric · cranky

Translations (48)

fr atrabilaire (irritable, irascible) · fi sappipitoinen (of or pertaining to bile) · fi sapekas (irritable, irascible) · de giftig (of or pertaining to bile) · tr safrasal (of or pertaining to bile) · hu epés (of or pertaining to bile) · fi sapekas (of or pertaining to bile) · es atrabilioso (irritable, irascible) · de reizbar (irritable, irascible) · ca arrauxat (irritable, irascible) · fr coléreux (irritable, irascible) · fr bilieux (suffering from real or supposed liver disorder) · de widerlich (of or pertaining to bile) · fr bileux (irritable, irascible) · ru раздражи́тельный (irritable, irascible) · tr safraya dair (of or pertaining to bile) · es atrabiliario (irritable, irascible) · hy դյուրագրգիռ (irritable, irascible) · ru же́лчный (irritable, irascible) · es intranquillo (irritable, irascible) · fa زردابی (of or pertaining to bile) · es biliar (of or pertaining to bile) · fr colérique (irritable, irascible) · tr öde ait (of or pertaining to bile) · fa صفراوی (of or pertaining to bile) · fr insuffisant hépatique (suffering from real or supposed liver disorder) · tr huysuz (irritable, irascible) · hy մաղձային (of or pertaining to bile) · ga meirgeach (irritable, irascible) · ga domlasta (of or pertaining to bile) · fa زردابی (suffering from real or supposed liver disorder) · es iracundo (irritable, irascible) · ga confach (irritable, irascible) · de gallig (suffering from real or supposed liver disorder) · tr aksi (irritable, irascible) · fr biliaire (of or pertaining to bile) · es colérico (irritable, irascible) · hy մաղձոտ (irritable, irascible) · ja 胆汁の (irritable, irascible) · fr bilieux (of or pertaining to bile) · ru же́лчный (of or pertaining to bile) · fi sappitautinen (suffering from real or supposed liver disorder) · tr ters (irritable, irascible) · it bilioso (suffering from real or supposed liver disorder) · es biliario (of or pertaining to bile) · es bilioso (suffering from real or supposed liver disorder) · fa تندخو (irritable, irascible) · tr huysuz (suffering from real or supposed liver disorder)