Meanings
plural cholers
- historicaluncountableusuallymedicineYellow bile.
- uncountableusuallyAnger or irritability.
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 [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados2 more examples
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 iiThis 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
Synonyms & antonyms
nounan irritable petulant feeling
nouna strong emotion; a feeling that is oriented toward some real or supposed grievance
nouna humor that was once believed to be secreted by the liver and to cause irritability and anger
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Ancient Greekχολή“bile”
- Latincholera“bilious disease”
- Old Frenchcolere“bile, anger”
- Middle Englishcoler“yellow bile”
- Englishcholer
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.
More words from Middle English, Old French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Dutch wrok
- wrokanger
Finnish koleerisuus, kiukku
- koleerisuusone of the four humours
- kiukkuanger
German Ärger, Gereiztheit
- Ärgeranger
- Gereiztheitanger
Irish lionn rua, lionn rua
- lionn ruaone of the four humours
- lionn ruaanger
Portuguese cólera, cólera
- cóleraone of the four humours
- cóleraanger
Romanian furie, mânie
- furieanger
- mânieanger
Spanish cólera
- cóleraanger
Swedish ilska
- ilskaanger
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with choler
All rhymes →Sounds the same
Cite this entry
choler. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/choler
“choler.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/choler. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “choler,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/choler.
Source: choler on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.