Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898)
GALL, BILE, an animal fluid, of exceedingly bitter taste, secreted by the liver. Ps 69:21. Allusion is made to it in Job 16:13; Job 20:14, Job 20:25; Lam 2:11, and elsewhere. But by the same word, in Ps 69:21, reference is made to the extraction of a very bitter herb, Deut 29:18; Deut 32:32, perhaps hemlock. Hos 10:4. It was so bitter as to be used as a generic term for bitter substances; as sour wine or sour cider, etc., is called "vinegar."
Comp. Matt 27:34; Mark 15:23; Acts 8:23. See Myrrh.