spleens

Noun

spleen (countable and uncountable, plural spleens)

1. In vertebrates, including humans, a ductless vascular gland, located in the upper left abdomen near the stomach, which destroys old red blood cells, removes debris from the bloodstream, acts as a reservoir of blood, and produces lymphocytes.
2. (archaic, except in the set phrase "to vent one's spleen") A bad mood; spitefulness. Compare gall.
   • In noble minds some dregs remain, / Not yet purged off, of spleen and sour disdain.1711 May, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Criticism, London: […] W[illiam] Lewis […]; and sold by W[illiam] Taylor […], T[homas] Osborn[e] […], and J[ohn] Graves […], →OCLC
3. (obsolete, rare) A sudden motion or action; a fit; a freak; a whim.
   • A thousand spleens bear her a thousand ways.
     Brief as the lightning in the collied night; That, in a spleen, unfolds both heaven and Earth1593, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis, London: […] Richard Field, […], →OCLC
4. (obsolete) Melancholy; hypochondriacal affections.
   • Bodies changed to various forms by spleen.1712 May, [Alexander Pope], “The Rape of the Locke. An Heroi-comical Poem.”, in Miscellaneous Poems and Translations. […], London: […] Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC, canto
5. A fit of immoderate laughter or merriment.
   • By virtue, thou enforcest laughter ; thy silly thought, my spleenc. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...

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