gallest

Verb

gall (third-person singular simple present galls, present participle galling, simple past and past participle galled)

1. (ergative) To chafe, to rub or subject to friction; to create a sore on the skin.
   • […] he went awkwardly in these clothes at first: wearing the drawers was very awkward to him, and the sleeves of the waistcoat galled his shoulders and the inside of his arms; but a little easing them where he complained they hurt him, and using himself to them, he took to them at length very well.1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC
2. (figuratively, transitive) To bother or trouble.
   • It is as lack of breath or bread: life hath no grief more galling.1838, Martin Farquhar Tupper, “Of Speaking”, in Proverbial Philosophy: A Book of Thoughts and Arguments, Originally Treated, London: Joseph Rickerby, […], →OCLC, page 135
3. (figuratively, transitive) To harass, to harry, often with the intent to cause injury.
   • The disposition for these detachments is as follows – Morgans corps, to gain the enemy’s right flank; Maxwells brigade to hang on their left. Brigadier Genl. Scott is now marching with a very respectable detachment destined to gall the enemys left flank and rear.1778 June 24, George Washington, The Writings of George Washington From the Original Manuscript Sources, volume 12, archived from the original on 11 Aug 2014
4. (figuratively, transitive) To exasperate.
   • Metrinko was hungry, but he was galled by how self-congratulatory his captors seemed, how generous and noble and proudly Islamic.1979 December, Mark Bowden, “Captivity Pageant”, in The Atlantic, volume 296, number 5, pages 92–97

   Synonyms:

   rankle

5. (transitive) To cause pitting on a surface being cut from the friction between the two surfaces exceeding the bond of the material at a point.
   • Improper cooling and a dull milling cutter on titanium can gall the surface.
6. (intransitive, obsolete, rare) To scoff; to jeer.
   • I have seen you gleeking and galling at this gentleman twice or thrice. You thought, because he could not speak English in the native garb, he could not therefore handle an English cudgel1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...

See all 18 meanings of gall