E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Bile.
It rouses my bile. It makes me angry or indignant. In Latin, biliosus (a bilious man) meant a choleric one. According to the ancient theory, bile is one of the humours of the body, and when excited abnormally it produces choler or rage.
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“It raised my bile to see him so reflect their grief aside.”—Hood: Plea of Midsummer Fairies, stanza 54.
Black bile is melancholy.
