Emily Dickinson Lexicon

AN'GER, n. [L. ango, to choke, strangle, vex; whence angor, vexation, anguish, the quinsy, angina. Gr. αγχω, to strangle, to strain or draw together, to vex. The primary sense is to press, squeeze, make narrow; Gr. αγχι, near; Sax. enge; G. enge; D. Dan. eng, narrow, strait; W. ing. This word may be connected in origin with the Ar. حَنِقَ hanika, to be angry, and خَنَقَ chanaka, to strangle; Heb. Ch. Syr. Eth. חנק, to strangle. In Sax. ange signifies vexed; angmod, sad, anxious; ang-set, a carbuncle; angsum, pressed close; anxsumian, to vex, to make anxious; Eng. anguish, anxious; L. angustus, angina, &c. See Anguish.]

1. A violent passion of the mind excited by a real or supposed injury; usually accompanied with a propensity to take vengeance, or to obtain satisfaction from the offending party. This passion however varies in degrees of violence, and in ingenuous minds, may be attended only with a desire to disprove or chide the offender. Anger is also excited by an injury offered to a relation, friend or party to which one is attached; and some degrees of it may be excited by cruelty, injustice or oppression offered to those with whom one has no immediate connection, or even to the community of which one is a member. Nor is it unusual to see something of this passion roused by gross absurdities in others, especially in controversy or discussion. Anger may be inflamed till it rises to rage and a temporary delirium.
2. Pain; smart of a sore or swelling: the literal sense of the word, but little used.