gloss
See also: gloss- and gloss.
English
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ɡlɒs/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ɡlɔs/
- (cot–caught merger, Canada) IPA(key): /ɡlɑs/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɒs, -ɔːs
Etymology 1
Probably from a North Germanic language, compare Icelandic glossi (“spark, flame”), glossa (“to flame”); or perhaps from dialectal Dutch gloos (“a glow, flare”), related to West Frisian gloeze (“a glow”), Middle Low German glȫsen (“to smoulder, glow”), German glosen (“to smoulder”); ultimately from Proto-Germanic *glus- (“to glow, shine”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰel- (“to flourish; be green or yellow”). More at glow.
Noun
gloss (usually uncountable, plural glosses)
- A surface shine or luster.
- Synonyms: brilliance, gleam, luster, sheen, shine
- (figuratively) A superficially or deceptively attractive appearance.
- Synonyms: façade, front, veneer.
- 1770, [Oliver] Goldsmith, The Deserted Village, a Poem, London: […] W. Griffin, […], OCLC 1227622017:
- To me more dear, congenial to my heart, / One native charm than all the gloss of art.
- 2013 September 7, Daniel Taylor, “Danny Welbeck leads England's rout of Moldova but hit by Ukraine ban”, in The Guardian:
- Hodgson may now have to bring in James Milner on the left and, on that basis, a certain amount of gloss was taken off a night on which Welbeck scored twice but barely celebrated either before leaving the pitch angrily complaining to the Slovakian referee.
Derived terms
- glossy
- glost
Related terms
- glow
Translations
surface shine
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superficially or deceptively attractive appearance
|
Verb
gloss (third-person singular simple present glosses, present participle glossing, simple past and past participle glossed)
- (transitive) To give a gloss or sheen to.
- Synonyms: polish, shine
- (transitive) To make (something) attractive by deception
- 1722, Ambrose Philips, The Briton
- You have the art to gloss the foulest cause.
- 1722, Ambrose Philips, The Briton
- (intransitive) To become shiny.
- (transitive, idiomatic) Used in a phrasal verb: gloss over (“to cover up a mistake or crime, to treat something with less care than it deserves”).
Translations
give a gloss or sheen to
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make (something) attractive by deception
|
become shiny
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Etymology 2
Glosas Emilianenses, 11th c.
From Middle English glosse, glose, from Late Latin glōssa (“obsolete or foreign word requiring explanation”), from Ancient Greek γλῶσσα (glôssa, “language”). Doublet of glossa.
Noun
gloss (plural glosses)
- (countable) A brief explanatory note or translation of a foreign, archaic, technical, difficult, complex, or uncommon expression, inserted after the original, in the margin of a document, or between lines of a text.
- Synonyms: explanation, note, marginalia
- 1684, Samuel Butler, Hudibras
- All this, without a gloss or comment, / He would unriddle in a moment.
- (countable) A glossary; a collection of such notes.
- Synonyms: glossary, lexicon
- (countable, obsolete) An expression requiring such explanatory treatment.
- (countable) An extensive commentary on some text.
- Synonyms: commentary, discourse, discussion
- (countable, law, US) An interpretation by a court of specific point within a statute or case law.
- 1979 American Bar Foundation. Annotated code of professional responsibility. page ix
- This volume is thus not a narrowly defined treatment of the Code of Professional Responsibility but rather represents a "common law" gloss on it.
- 2007 Bruce R. Hopkins. The law of tax-exempt organizations. page 76
- Judicial Gloss on Test [section title]
- 1979 American Bar Foundation. Annotated code of professional responsibility. page ix
Derived terms
- beglossed
Related terms
- glossary
- glossator
Translations
brief explanatory note or translation of a difficult or complex expression
|
glossary — see glossary
extensive commentary on some text
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Etymology 3
From Middle English glossen, glosen, from Old French gloser and Medieval Latin glossāre.
Verb
gloss (third-person singular simple present glosses, present participle glossing, simple past and past participle glossed)
- (transitive) To add a gloss to (a text).
- Synonyms: annotate, mark up
Derived terms
- gloss over
Translations
to add a gloss to (a text)
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Further reading
gloss (material appearance) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia - gloss (annotation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
- gloss in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- gloss in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
- gloss at OneLook Dictionary Search
Anagrams
- slogs
Portuguese
Noun
gloss m (uncountable)
- lip gloss (cosmetic product)