glamour

glamour

English

Etymology

Some say from Scots glamer, supposedly from earlier Scots gramarye (“magic, enchantment, spell”).

According to George Mpampiniotis, a glossology professor at the University of Athens, the Scottish term may either be from the Greek word Γραμματική (grammatiki - grammar). A connection has also been suggested with Old Norse glámr (poet. “moon,” name of a ghost) and glámsýni (“glamour, illusion”, literally “glam-sight”). From Grettir's Saga aka Grettis Saga, one of the Sagas of Icelanders, after the hero has been cursed by Glam, aka Glamr:

"...he was become so fearsome a man in the dark, that he durst go nowhither alone after nightfall, for then he seemed to see all kinds of horrors.

And that has fallen since into a proverb, that Glam lends eyes, or gives Glamsight to those who see things nowise as they are."

Glamsight (glámsýni) is also referred to in the Icelandic collection Sturlunga saga.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɡlæmə/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɡlæmɚ/
• Rhymes: -æmə(ɹ)

Noun

glamour (countable and uncountable, plural glamours)

1. (uncountable) Originally, enchantment; magic charm; especially, the effect of a spell that causes one to see objects in a form that differs from reality, typically to make filthy, ugly, or repulsive things seem beauteous.
   • 1882, James Thomson (B. V.), “The City of Dreadful Night”:

     They often murmur to themselves, they speak
     To one another seldom, for their woe
     Broods maddening inwardly and scorns to wreak
     Itself abroad; and if at whiles it grow
     To frenzy which must rave, none heeds the clamour,
     Unless there waits some victim of like glamour,
     To rave in turn, who lends attentive show.

2. (uncountable) Alluring beauty or charm (often with sex appeal).

   glamour magazines; a glamour model

3. (uncountable) Any excitement, appeal, or attractiveness associated with a person, place, or thing; that which makes something appealing.

   The idea of being a movie star has lost its glamour for me.

   • 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], OCLC 1042815524, part I, page 197:

     “The North Pole was one of these places, I remember. Well, I haven’t been there yet, and shall not try now. The glamour’s off.”

   • 1950 May 7, The Daily Telegraph, page 13, column 3:

     Boys have not lost their love for adventure, and still have `itchy feet.' Many are seeking glamor jobs, want to be writers, detectives, seamen.

4. Any artificial interest in, or association with, objects, or persons, through which they appear delusively magnified or glorified.
5. A kind of haze in the air, causing things to appear different from what they really are.

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

6. (countable) An item, motif, person, image that by association improves appearance.

Alternative forms

• glamor (US); however, the -our spelling is the more common spelling, even in the US

Derived terms

• beglamour
• beglamourment
• glam
• glammed up
• glamorous/glamourous
• glamorously
• glamour model
• glamour photography
• glam rock

 

Translations

beauty or charm

Bulgarian: очарование (bg) n (očarovanie), магия (bg) f (magija) Catalan: glamur m Danish: glamour c Finnish: glamour (fi) French: charme (fr) m German: Glamour (de) m or n Latin: nitor (la) m Norwegian: Bokmål: glamour m Nynorsk: glamour m Romanian: farmec (ro) n Russian: гламур (ru) m (glamur) Spanish: fascinación (es), elegancia (es) f, encanto (es) m Swedish: glamour (sv) c

Verb

glamour (third-person singular simple present glamours, present participle glamouring, simple past and past participle glamoured)

1. (transitive) To enchant; to bewitch.

References

• “Glámr” in: Richard Cleasby, Guðbrandur Vigfússon — An Icelandic-English Dictionary (1874)

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Danish

Etymology

From English glamour.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡlamuːr/, [ɡ̊laˈmuːɐ̯] or IPA^(key): /ɡlamɔr/, [ˈɡ̊lamɒ]

Noun

glamour c (singular definite glamouren, not used in plural form)

1. glamour

Derived terms

• glamourisere
• glamourøs

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Finnish

Etymology

From French glamour.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡlɑmour/, [ˈɡlɑmo̞ur]
• Rhymes: -ɑmour
• Syllabification^(key): gla‧mo‧ur

Noun

glamour

1. glamour (charm)

Declension

Inflection of glamour (Kotus type 5/risti, no gradation)
nominative		glamour	glamourit
genitive		glamourin	glamourien
partitive		glamouria	glamoureja
illative		glamouriin	glamoureihin
		singular	plural
nominative		glamour	glamourit
accusative	nom.	glamour	glamourit
	gen.	glamourin
genitive		glamourin	glamourien
partitive		glamouria	glamoureja
inessive		glamourissa	glamoureissa
elative		glamourista	glamoureista
illative		glamouriin	glamoureihin
adessive		glamourilla	glamoureilla
ablative		glamourilta	glamoureilta
allative		glamourille	glamoureille
essive		glamourina	glamoureina
translative		glamouriksi	glamoureiksi
instructive		—	glamourein
abessive		glamouritta	glamoureitta
comitative		—	glamoureineen

Possessive forms of glamour (type risti)
possessor	singular	plural
1st person	glamourini	glamourimme
2nd person	glamourisi	glamourinne
3rd person	glamourinsa

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French

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

glamour m (uncountable)

1. glamour

Adjective

glamour (invariable)

1. glamorous

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Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From English glamour.

Noun

glamour m (definite singular glamouren)

1. glamour

Related terms

• glamorøs

References

• “glamour” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From English glamour.

Noun

glamour m (definite singular glamouren)

1. glamour

Related terms

• glamorøs

References

• “glamour” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

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Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English glamour.

Noun

glamour m (uncountable)

1. glamour

   Synonyms: charme, encanto

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Spanish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English glamour.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡlaˈmuɾ/ [ɡlaˈmuɾ]
• Rhymes: -uɾ

Noun

glamour m (uncountable)

1. Alternative spelling of glamur

Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

Further reading

• “glamour”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

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Swedish

Noun

glamour c (definite singular glamouren) (uncountable)

1. glamour