spleeny


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spleen

 (splēn)
n.
1.
a. A large, highly vascular lymphoid organ, located in the human body to the left of the stomach below the diaphragm, that serves as a reservoir for blood, destroys old red blood cells, and contains lymphocytes that combat blood-borne antigens.
b. A homologous organ or tissue in other vertebrates.
2. Obsolete This organ conceived as the seat of emotions or passions.
3. Ill temper: vent one's spleen.
4. Archaic Melancholy.
5. Obsolete A whim; a caprice.

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

spleen′y adj.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

spleen•y

(ˈspli ni)

adj. spleen•i•er, spleen•i•est.
abundant in or displaying spleen; spleenful.
[1595–1605]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
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In evoking the story of Anne, described by Shakespeare and Fletcher in Henry VIII (chronologically speaking, the "sequel" to Perkin Warbeck) as "a spleeny Lutheran" (3.2.99),(27) Ford thus touched on a moment full of resonance not only for the personal histories of those with whom he was connected but for the spiritual history of the nation as a whole.