Dictionary

choler en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈkɒlə(ɹ)/
• (Southern-England) audio
• kǒl'ər

Etymology

From Middle English coler (“yellow bile”), from Old French colere (“bile, anger”), from Latin cholera (“bilious disease”), from Ancient Greek χολή (kholḗ, “bile”). Doublet of cholera.

Meanings

1. (historical, uncountable, usually) Yellow bile.
2. (uncountable, usually) Anger or irritability.
   • Threatned with frowning wrath and iealouſie, Surpriz’d with feare and hideous reuenge, I ſtand agaſt: but moſt aſtonied To ſee his choller ſhut in ſecrete thoughtes, And wrapt in ſilence of his angry ſoule. c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene ii:
   • This roused the tinker's choler, already provoked at Tugwell's amorous freedom with his doxy, and he gave him a click in the mazard. Tugwell had not been used tamely to receive a kick or a cuff; he, therefore, gave the tinker a rejoinder, […] 1808, Richard Graves, The Spiritual Quixote, page 127:
   • Hutchins reflected a moment. All the choler and restlessness had melted out of the man's face. He was again the excellent artisan, slow but capable and self-reliant. 1914, Ernest Bramah, Max Carrados:

Forms

Relateds

cholera · choleric

Synonyms

bile · anger · fury · wrath · indignation · spleen · vexation · grudge · yellow bile · gall · ire · passion · rage · displeasure

Translations (13)

fi koleerisuus (one of the four humours) · ga lionn rua (one of the four humours) · de Gereiztheit (anger) · de Ärger (anger) · sv ilska (anger) · ga lionn rua (anger) · ro furie (anger) · fi kiukku (anger) · pt cólera (anger) · es cólera (anger) · nl wrok (anger) · pt cólera (one of the four humours) · ro mânie (anger)