choleric

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English

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Etymology

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From Middle English colerik, from Old French colerique, from Latin cholericus.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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choleric (comparative more choleric, superlative most choleric)

  1. (according to theories of the four humours or temperaments) Having a temperament characterized by an excess of choler; easily becoming angry.
    • 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Travel”, in The Essayes [], 3rd edition, London: [] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:
      And let a man beware, how he keepeth company with choleric and quarrelsome persons; for they will engage him into their own quarrels.
    • 1640, George Herbert, Jacula Prudentum; or, Outlandish Proverbs, Sentences, etc., in The Remains of that Sweet Singer of the Temple George Herbert, London: Pickering, 1841, p. 146,[1]
      From a choleric man withdraw a little; from him that says nothing for ever.
    • 1840 April – 1841 November, Charles Dickens, “Chapter the Thirty-fifth”, in The Old Curiosity Shop. A Tale. [], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, [], published 1841, →OCLC:
      As it was clear that he was a choleric fellow in some respects, Mr Swiveller was relieved to find him in such good humour, and, to encourage him in it, smiled himself.
    • 1936 June 30, Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC; republished New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, 1944, →OCLC:
      Beneath his choleric exterior Gerald O’Hara had the tenderest of hearts.
  2. Showing or expressing anger.
    • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, []”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. [] (First Folio), London: [] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
      What, what, my lord! are you so choleric
      With Eleanor, for telling but her dream?
    • 1667, John Dryden, Sir Martin Mar-all[2], act V, scene 1:
      How angry the poor devil is! In fine, thou art as choleric as a cook by a fireside.
    • 1712, Humphry Polesworth [pseudonym; John Arbuthnot], “An Account of the Conference between Mrs. Bull and Don Diego Dismallo”, in John Bull in His Senses: Being the Second Part of Law is a Bottomless-Pit. [], Edinburgh: [] James Watson, [], →OCLC, page 20:
      For God’s ſake, Madam, vvhy ſo Cholerick? I ſay, this Letter is ſome Forgery; []
    • 2024, Jeremy B. Rudd, A Practical Guide to Macroeconomics, p. 2
      [As] in most revolutionary movements, counterrevolutionary action was dealt with harshly – witness Lucas's (1994) choleric reaction to Ball and Mankiw (1994).
  3. Of or relating to cholera (infectious disease).
  4. (obsolete) Causing an excess of choler.

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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Noun

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choleric (plural cholerics)

  1. A person with a choleric temperament.
    • c. 1915, John Adams, Making the Most of One’s Mind[3], New York: Hodder & Stoughton, page 21:
      The cholerics show ambition, stubbornness, love of work, courage []
    • 1984, Tim LaHaye, Your Temperament: Discover its Potential, republished as Why You Act the Way You Do, Carol Stream, Illinois: Tyndale House, 2012,[4]
      No one utters more caustic comments than a sarcastic choleric!
  2. A person suffering from cholera (infectious disease).
    • 1832, Ashbel Smith, The Cholera Spasmodica[5], New York: P. Hill, page 59:
      Persons laboring under pulmonary affections appear to be less liable than others, though I have found softened tubercles in some cholerics.