green about the gills
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Feeling nauseous or queasy
Literally: green around the gills, like a sick fish
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
After the boat ride, she looked green about the gills
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “green about the gills” mean?
Feeling nauseous or queasy Literally: green around the gills, like a sick fish
Is “green about the gills” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.