Definitions

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

  • noun A large, highly vascular lymphoid organ, lying in the human body to the left of the stomach below the diaphragm, serving to store blood, disintegrate old blood cells, filter foreign substances from the blood, and produce lymphocytes.
  • noun A homologous organ or tissue in other vertebrates.
  • noun Obsolete This organ conceived as the seat of emotions or passions.
  • noun Ill temper.
  • noun Archaic Melancholy.
  • noun Obsolete A whim; a caprice.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A non-glandular, highly vascular organ which is situated in the abdomen, on the left side, in connection with the digestive organs, and in which the blood undergoes certain modifications in respect of its corpuscles.
  • noun Ill humor; melancholy; low spirits.
  • noun Bad temper; anger; ill-will; malice; latent spite; grudge: as, to vent one's spleen; a fit of the spleen.
  • noun A sudden impulse, fancy, or caprice; a whim.
  • noun Mood; disposition.
  • To deprive of the spleen; extirpate the spleen of.
  • To anger; annoy.
  • To dislike; hate.
  • To have a loathing; become disgusted.

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

  • transitive verb obsolete To dislke.
  • noun (Anat.) A peculiar glandlike but ductless organ found near the stomach or intestine of most vertebrates and connected with the vascular system; the milt. Its exact function in not known.
  • noun Anger; latent spite; ill humor; malice.
  • noun A fit of anger; choler.
  • noun Obs. or R. A sudden motion or action; a fit; a freak; a whim.
  • noun Melancholy; hypochondriacal affections.
  • noun obsolete A fit of immoderate laughter or merriment.

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

  • noun anatomy, immunology 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.
  • noun archaic A bad mood; spitefulness.
  • verb obsolete, transitive To dislike.

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

  • noun a large dark-red oval organ on the left side of the body between the stomach and the diaphragm; produces cells involved in immune responses
  • noun a feeling of resentful anger

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English splen, from Old French esplen, from Latin splēn, from Greek.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French esplen, from Latin splēn, from Ancient Greek σπλήν (splēn, "the spleen").

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Examples

  • After we had fed, we drew ourselves back to our boats upon the river, and there came to us all the lords of the country, with all such kind of victual as the place yielded, and with their delicate wine of pinas, and with abundance of hens and other provisions, and of those stones which we call spleen-stones.

    The Discovery of Guiana. Paras. 50-102 1909

  • After we had fed, we drew ourselves back to our boats upon the river, and there came to us all the lords of the country, with all such kind of victual as the place yielded, and with their delicate wine of pinas, and with abundance of hens and other provisions, and of those stones which we call spleen-stones.

    The Discovery of Guiana Walter Raleigh 1586

  • When the spleen is large, your physician may prescribe a spleen guard to be worn during gym or during certain activities to protect the spleen from injury.

    Frequently Asked Questions about Biliary Atresia 2010

  • You know it's a good post when a humming birds spleen is used as a frame of reference though I do believe the aforementioned bases/rings are way heavier than a gnats ass!

    Bases and Rings, Part Two 2008

  • The full review is only available online to subscribers, but you can get a sense of his level of spleen from the opening paragraphs.

    An Amazon.com Books Blog featuring news, reviews, interviews and guest author blogs. 2008

  • The liver is long and simple; the spleen is short and round: as is the case in both respects with the saurians.

    The History of Animals 2002

  • The spleen is anatomically well adapted for use in these experiments, and the replantation of this organ can be taken as characteristic of this kind of operation.

    Alexis Carrel - Nobel Lecture 1967

  • The feelings manifested by Michal were only an ebullition of spleen from a proud and passionate woman.

    Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible 1871

  • As I approached the forbidding edifice that is Tony Conigliaro Consolidated Elementary School, my heart sank from its perch just above the ruffled v-neck of my blouse to a point slightly below my spleen, which is a vascular, ductless organ whose principal functions are the storage of blood and production of lymphocytes.

    The Bodice-Ripper Free School Zone Act Con Chapman 2011

  • As I approached the forbidding edifice that is Tony Conigliaro Consolidated Elementary School, my heart sank from its perch just above the ruffled v-neck of my blouse to a point slightly below my spleen, which is a vascular, ductless organ whose principal functions are the storage of blood and production of lymphocytes.

    The Bodice-Ripper Free School Zone Act 2010

Comments

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  • spleendor is not crass

    March 5, 2013