atrabilarian
English
Etymology
From Latin ātra bīlis (“black bile”).
Adjective
atrabilarian (comparative more atrabilarian, superlative most atrabilarian)
- Characterized by melancholy or glum; atrabilarious; atrabilious.
- 1731, John Arbuthnot, An Essay Concerning the Nature of Aliments, and the Choice of Them, According to the Different Constitutions of Human Bodies. […], 1st Irish edition, Dublin: […] S. Powell, for George Risk, […], George Ewing, […], and William Smith, […], OCLC 756901661:
- We come now to what we call the earthy or atrabilarian Constitution , where the spirituous and most fluid Parts of the Blood are dissipated
- 1924, Ford Madox Ford, Some Do Not, volume 1 of Parade's End
- He stopped, he directed upon her his atrabilarian eyes, biting his umbrella handle; he was extremely nervous.
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Related terms
- atrabilious