black bile

noun

: the one of the four humors (see humor entry 1 sense 2c) in ancient and medieval physiology that was believed to be cold and dry and to cause melancholy and cowardice

Examples of black bile in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Samantha barfs up some black bile, and Zoe’s sycophants eat her skin at a dinner party in a bit that briefly frames her as a Christ figure but doesn’t go anywhere. —Katie Rife, IndieWire, 12 Sep. 2024

The theory contends that four fluids — blood, choler (yellow bile), phlegm and black bile — make up the body and must maintain balance for good health. —Sara Novak, Discover Magazine, 5 Apr. 2023

After all, black bile, it was believed, caused not only sadness, but also lovesickness, irrational behavior, and uncontrolled physical impulses. —Mina Seçkin, refinery29.com, 16 Nov. 2021

Hippocrates, the Greek physician who is sometimes called the father of medicine, wrote in the fifth century B.C.E. that the body has four humors—phlegm, yellow bile, black bile, and blood—which correspond to the hot, cold, wet, and dry weather of the Mediterranean. —Lorraine Boissoneault, The New Yorker, 30 July 2022

Word History

First Known Use

1634, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

black bile

noun

: the one of the four humors (see humor sense 2) in ancient and medieval physiology that was believed to be cold and dry and to cause melancholy and cowardice