spleen
noun/spliːn/
/spliːn/
- [countable] a small organ near the stomach that controls the quality of the blood cells
- a ruptured spleen
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- [uncountable] (literary) anger
- He vented his spleen (= shouted in an angry way) on the assembled crowd.
Word OriginMiddle English: shortening of Old French esplen, via Latin from Greek splēn; sense (2) derives from the earlier belief that the spleen was the seat of bad temper.
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