12 results for: spleen

What Is A Spleen
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Swollen Spleen
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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
spleen    Audio Help   [spleen] Pronunciation Key
–noun
1.a highly vascular, glandular, ductless organ, situated in humans at the cardiac end of the stomach, serving chiefly in the formation of mature lymphocytes, in the destruction of worn-out red blood cells, and as a reservoir for blood.
2.Obsolete. this organ conceived of as the seat of spirit and courage or of such emotions as mirth, ill humor, melancholy, etc.
3.ill humor, peevish temper, or spite.
4.Archaic. melancholy.
5.Obsolete. caprice.

[Origin: 1250–1300; ME < L splén < Gk spln; akin to Skt plīhan, L lién spleen]

spleenish, adjective

3. petulance, rancor, acrimoniousness; wrath, ire, anger.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
spleen

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
spleen    Audio Help   (splēn)  Pronunciation Key 
n.  
    1. 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.
    2. A homologous organ or tissue in other vertebrates.
  1. Obsolete This organ conceived as the seat of emotions or passions.
  2. Ill temper: vent one's spleen.
  3. Archaic Melancholy.
  4. Obsolete A whim; a caprice.


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

spleen'y adj.
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
spleen 
c.1300, from O.Fr. esplen, from L. splen, from Gk. splen, from PIE *splegh- (cf. Skt. plihan-, Avestan sperezan, Armenian p'aicaln, L. lien, O.C.S. slezena, Lith. bluznis, O.Prus. blusne, O.Ir. selg "spleen"). Regarded in medieval physiology as the seat of morose feelings and bad temper. Hence fig. sense of "violent ill-temper" (1594).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
spleen

noun
1. 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 
2. a feeling of resentful anger [syn: irascibility

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
spleen [spliːn] noun
an organ of the body, close to the stomach, which causes changes in the blood
Arabic: طِحال
Chinese (Simplified):
Chinese (Traditional):
Czech: slezina
Danish: milt
Dutch: milt
Estonian: põrn
Finnish: perna
French: rate
German: die Milz
Greek: σπλήνα
Hungarian: lép
Icelandic: milta
Indonesian: limpa
Italian: milza
Japanese: 脾臓
Korean: (신체의) 비장
Latvian: liesa
Lithuanian: blužnis
Norwegian: milt
Polish: śledziona
Portuguese (Brazil): baço
Portuguese (Portugal): baço
Romanian: splină
Russian: селезёнка
Slovak: slezina
Slovenian: vranica
Spanish: bazo
Swedish: mjälte
Turkish: dalak
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary, © 2000-2006 K Dictionaries Ltd.
The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
spleen    Audio Help   (splēn)  Pronunciation Key 
An organ in vertebrate animals that in humans is located on the left side of the abdomen near the stomach. The spleen is mainly composed of lymph nodes and blood vessels. It filters the blood, stores red blood cells (erythrocytes) and destroys old ones, and produces white blood cells (lymphocytes).

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
spleen

An organ in the lymphatic system, in the upper left part of the abdomen, that filters out harmful substances from the blood. The spleen also produces white blood cells, removes worn-out red blood cells from circulation, and maintains a reserve blood supply for the body.


[Chapter:] Medicine and Health


The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

spleen (spln)
n.

A large, highly vascular lymphoid organ, lying to the left of the stomach below the diaphragm and serving to store blood, disintegrate old blood cells, filter foreign substances from the blood, and to produce lymphocytes.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Main Entry: spleen
Pronunciation: 'splEn
Function: noun
: a highly vascular ductless abdominal organ of vertebrates that resembles a gland in organization but is closely associated with the circulatory system, that plays a role in the final destruction of red blood cells, filtration and storage of blood, and production of lymphocytes, and that in humans is a dark purplish flattened oblong object of a soft fragile consistency lying near the cardiac end of the stomach and consisting largely of blood and lymphoid tissue enclosed in a fibroelastic capsule from which trabeculae ramify through the tissue of the organ which is divisible into a loose friable red pulp in intimate connection with the blood supply and with red blood cells free in its interstices and a denser white pulp chiefly of lymphoid tissue condensed in masses about the small arteries

Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Spleen

Spleen\, n. [L. splen, Gr. ???? the milt or spleen, affection of the spleen; cf. L. lien, plihan, pl[=i]han.]

1. (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.

2. Anger; latent spite; ill humor; malice; as, to vent one's spleen.

In noble minds some dregs remain, Not yet purged off, of spleen and sour disdain. --Pope.

3. A fit of anger; choler. --Shak.

4. A sudden motion or action; a fit; a freak; a whim. [Obs. or R.]

A thousand spleens bear her a thousand ways. --Shak.

5. Melancholy; hypochondriacal affections.

Bodies changed to various forms by spleen. --Pope.

There is a luxury in self-dispraise: And inward self-disparagement affords To meditative spleen a grateful feast. --Wordsworth.

6. A fit of immoderate laughter or merriment. [Obs.]

Thy silly thought enforces my spleen. --Shak.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Spleen

Spleen\, v. t. To dislke. [Obs.] --Bp. Hacket.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.

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