Definition of "spleen" [spleen]

• A large, highly vascular lymphoid organ, lying in the human body to the left of the stomach below the diaphragm, serving to store blood, disintegrate old blood cells, filter foreign substances from the blood, and produce lymphocytes. (noun)
• A homologous organ or tissue in other vertebrates. (noun)
• Obsolete This organ conceived as the seat of emotions or passions. (noun)
• Ill temper: vent one's spleen. (noun)
• Archaic Melancholy. (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.

• "After we had fed, we drew ourselves back to our boats upon the river, and there came to us all the lords of the country, with all such kind of victual as the place yielded, and with their delicate wine of pinas, and with abundance of hens and other provisions, and of those stones which we call spleen-stones."
• "When the spleen is large, your physician may prescribe a spleen guard to be worn during gym or during certain activities to protect the spleen from injury."
• "You know it's a good post when a humming birds spleen is used as a frame of reference though I do believe the aforementioned bases/rings are way heavier than a gnats ass!"