lustre
English Edit
Pronunciation Edit
Etymology 1 Edit
From Middle French lustre. See luster (etymology 1).
Noun Edit
lustre (countable and uncountable, plural lustres)
- (British spelling) Alternative form of luster (shine, etc.)
- (geology) The way in which the surface of any particular type of mineral reflects light differently from other minerals, which is helpful in telling minerals apart.
- A glass ornament such as a prism or cut glass dangling beneath a chandelier; usually in clusters or festoons.
- 2013, Shena Mackay, Redhill Rococo, →ISBN:
- ...he went out through the unfamiliar hall, setting the chandelier clashing its dusty lustres with his hand, leaving a prismatic jangle behind him in the empty house.
- (dated) A chandelier, particularly one decorated with glass lustres.
- 1889, anonymous author, The Journal of Gas Lighting, Water Supply & Sanitary Improvement[2]:
- On the ground floor, the library (a room in carved oak) is lighted by a lustre composed of twelve regenerative burners enclosed in tinted glasses.
Antonyms Edit
Derived terms Edit
Related terms Edit
Translations Edit
Verb Edit
lustre (third-person singular simple present lustres, present participle lustring, simple past and past participle lustred)
- (British spelling) Alternative form of luster
Translations Edit
Etymology 2 Edit
From Middle English lustre, from Latin lustrum, from Old Latin *loustrom, of uncertain origin. More at lustrum.
Noun Edit
lustre (plural lustres)
- (British spelling) Alternative form of luster: A 5-year period, especially (historical) in Roman contexts.
Etymology 3 Edit
From Latin lustra (“wilds, woods”), thought to derive from unattested *dustrum, from unattested Ancient Greek *δύστρον (*dústron, “place animals wallow”), from δύω (dúō, “to plunge, to wallow”).
Noun Edit
lustre (plural lustres)
- (British spelling, obsolete) Alternative form of luster: a den, a dwelling-place in a wilderness, especially for animals.
References Edit
- “lustre”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
Anagrams Edit
Catalan Edit
Etymology Edit
From Latin lustrum. Doublet of llustre and llostre.
Pronunciation Edit
Noun Edit
lustre m (plural lustres)
- lustrum (period of five years)
Related terms Edit
Further reading Edit
- “lustre” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
French Edit
Pronunciation Edit
Etymology 1 Edit
Borrowed from Latin lūstrum (“purification celebrated every few years; a period of five or four years”).
Noun Edit
lustre m (plural lustres)
- (literary) lustrum; period of five years
- (figurative; chiefly in the plural) a very long time, an eternity
- Synonyms: éternité, (informal) plombes, (informal) belle lurette
- Ça fait des lustres que je ne t’ai pas vu ! ― I haven't seen you in ages!
Usage notes Edit
- Larousse considers all senses of this word as literary[1], but only that of "five years" is marked as such by Le Robert[2] and Trésor[3].
Etymology 2 Edit
Noun Edit
lustre m (plural lustres)
- lustre, chandelier
- gloss, shine, lustre
Related terms Edit
Descendants Edit
References Edit
Italian Edit
Adjective Edit
lustre f pl
Middle French Edit
Etymology Edit
Noun Edit
lustre m (plural lustres)
Portuguese Edit
Etymology Edit
Pronunciation Edit
- Hyphenation: lus‧tre
Noun Edit
lustre m (plural lustres)
Spanish Edit
Pronunciation Edit
Etymology 1 Edit
From either French lustre or Catalan llustre, from Italian lustro, derived from the verb lustrare. A French or Catalan intermediate is likely due to the change in the final vowel, typical of borrowings that are ultimately early Italianisms before the 16th century. Not attested in Old Spanish; first attested in Nebrija.
Noun Edit
lustre m (plural lustres)
- lustre, shine
- el lustre de mis zapatos, del metal, de los minerales
- the shine of my shoes, of the metal, of minerals
- 1495, Antonio de Nebrija, Vocabulario español-latino :
- Blanquear dando lustre. candifico .as.
- To whiten giving lustre: candificō, -ās.
- Blanquear dando lustre. candifico .as.
Derived terms Edit
Etymology 2 Edit
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Verb Edit
lustre
- inflection of lustrar:
Further reading Edit
- “lustre”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
- Joan Coromines; José A. Pascual (1984), “lustre”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico (in Spanish), volume III (G–Ma), Madrid: Gredos, →ISBN, pages 717-718