Word of the Day

Saturday, June 21, 2008

choler

\KOLL-ur; KOLE-ur\ , noun;

Irritation of the passions; anger; wrath.

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Quotes:

And at last he seems to have found his proper subject: one that genuinely engages his intellect, truly arouses his characteristic choler and fills him with zest.

-- "Black Humor': Could Be Funnier", New York Times, January 12, 1998

I found my choler rising.

-- Samuel Richardson, A Collection of the Moral and Instructive Sentiments... in the Histories of Pamela, Clarissa, and Sir Charles Grandison

Origin:

Choler is from Latin cholera, a bilious disease, from Greek kholera, from khole, bile.