spleen
Plural: spleens
Noun
- A ductless abdominal organ involved in filtering blood.
- 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
- a feeling of resentful anger
- 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.
- A bad mood; spitefulness. Compare gall.
- A sudden motion or action; a fit; a freak; a whim.
- Melancholy; hypochondriacal affections.
- A fit of immoderate laughter or merriment.
Verb
- To dislike.
- To annoy or irritate.
- To complain; to rail; to vent one's spleen.
- To remove the spleen, or, by extension, to gore.
- To excise or remove.
Examples
- He let out his spleen after losing a close game of Words With Friends due to a single letter.
Origin / 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.
Synonyms
irascibility, lien, quick temper, short temper, milt
Scrabble Score: 8
spleen: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordspleen: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
spleen: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary
Words With Friends Score: 11
spleen: valid Words With Friends Word