gloss
English
editPronunciation
edit- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ɡlɒs/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ɡlɔs/
- (cot–caught merger) IPA(key): /ɡlɑs/
Audio (US): (file) - Rhymes: -ɒs, -ɔːs
Etymology 1
editProbably 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
editgloss (usually uncountable, plural glosses)
- A surface shine or luster.
- Synonyms: brilliance, gleam, luster, sheen, shine
- (figuratively) A superficially or deceptively attractive appearance.
- 1770, [Oliver] Goldsmith, The Deserted Village, a Poem, London: […] W[illiam] Griffin, […], →OCLC:
- 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[1]:
- 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
editRelated terms
editTranslations
editsurface shine
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superficially or deceptively attractive appearance
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Verb
editgloss (third-person singular simple present glosses, present participle glossing, simple past and past participle glossed)
- (transitive) To give a gloss or sheen to.
- (transitive) To make (something) attractive by deception
- 1722, Ambrose Philips, The Briton:
- You have the art to gloss the foulest cause.
- (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
editgive a gloss or sheen to
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make (something) attractive by deception
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become shiny
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Etymology 2
edit
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
editgloss (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.
- 2021, Mary Wellesley, The Gilded Page: The Secret Lives of Medieval Manuscripts, page 9:
- He was a prolific annotator - writing around fifty thousand glosses in as many as twenty manuscripts.
- (countable) A glossary; a collection of such notes.
- (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 a 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]
Derived terms
editRelated terms
editTranslations
editbrief explanatory note or translation of a difficult or complex expression
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glossary — see glossary
extensive commentary on some text
Etymology 3
editFrom Middle English glossen, glosen, from Old French gloser and Medieval Latin glossāre.
Verb
editgloss (third-person singular simple present glosses, present participle glossing, simple past and past participle glossed)
- (transitive) To add a gloss to (a text).
Derived terms
editTranslations
editto add a gloss to (a text)
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Further reading
edit
gloss (material appearance) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia - gloss (annotation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
- “gloss”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “gloss”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “gloss”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
Anagrams
editPortuguese
editNoun
editgloss m (uncountable)
- lip gloss (cosmetic product)
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