Definition of "gallstone" [gall•stone]

• A small, hard, pathological concretion, composed chiefly of cholesterol, calcium salts, and bile pigments, formed in the gallbladder or in a bile duct. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "A gallstone is a concentration of the components of bile, the primary component being cholesterol."
• "The attorney general, in intensive care, is undergoing treatment for a painful condition called gallstone pancreatitis, or simply inflammation of the pancreas, which doctors say was caused by a gallstone."
• "Of course, we're continuing to follow this story of the attorney general who's suffering apparently from a very painful condition called gallstone pancreatitis."