gloss

See also: gloss- and gloss.

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡlɒs/
• IPA^(key): /ɡlɔs/
• IPA^(key): /ɡlɑs/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒs, -ɔːs

Etymology 1

From a Germanic language, perhaps Middle High German, Dutch or Icelandic; compare glossi (“a blaze”).

Noun

gloss (usually uncountable, plural glosses)

1. A surface shine or luster/lustre
2. (figuratively) A superficially or deceptively attractive appearance
   • (Can we date this quote by Goldsmith and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     To me more dear, congenial to my heart, / One native charm than all the gloss of art.

   • 2013, Daniel Taylor, Danny Welbeck leads England's rout of Moldova but hit by Ukraine ban (in The Guardian, 6 September 2013)[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.

Synonyms

• (surface shine): brilliance, gleam, luster/lustre, sheen, shine
• (superficially or deceptively attractive appearance): façade, front, veneer

Related terms

• glossy
• glossary

Translations

surface shine

• Bulgarian: блясък (bg) m (bljasǎk), лъскавина (bg) f (lǎskavina)
• Czech: lesk (cs) m
• Finnish: kiilto (fi)
• German: Glanz (de) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: lustre (pt), lustro (pt), brilho (pt)
• Russian: блеск (ru) m (blesk), гля́нец (ru) m (gljánec)
• Scottish Gaelic: lìomh f
• Turkish: parlaklık (tr)

superficially or deceptively attractive appearance

• Bulgarian: външен блясък m (vǎnšen bljasǎk)
• Czech: pozlátko (cs) n, lesk (cs) m
• Finnish: pintakiilto
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: блеск (ru) (blesk), лоск (ru) m (losk)
• Turkish: gösteriş (tr)

Verb

1. (transitive) To give a gloss or sheen to.
2. (transitive) To make (something) attractive by deception
   • (Can we date this quote by Philips and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     You have the art to gloss the foulest cause.

3. (intransitive) To become shiny.
4. (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”).

Synonyms

• (give a gloss or sheen to): polish, shine
• (make (something) attractive by deception):
• (become shiny):

Translations

give a gloss or sheen to

• Bulgarian: лъскам (bg) (lǎskam)
• Finnish: kiillottaa (fi)
• German: polieren (de)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Ido: glacar (io)
• Russian: наводи́ть гля́нец (navodítʹ gljánec)
• Scottish Gaelic: lìomh

make (something) attractive by deception

• Russian: наводи́ть лоск (navodítʹ losk)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

become shiny

• Portuguese: brilhar (pt)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: лосни́ться (ru) (losnítʹsja)

Etymology 2

From Middle English glosse, glose, from Late Latin glossa (“obsolete or foreign word requiring explanation”), from Ancient Greek γλῶσσα (glôssa, “language”).

Noun

gloss (plural glosses)

1. (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.
   • 1684, Samuel Butler, Hudibras

     All this, without a gloss or comment, / He would unriddle in a moment.

2. (countable) A glossary; a collection of such notes.
3. (countable, obsolete) An expression requiring such explanatory treatment.
4. (countable) An extensive commentary on some text.
5. (countable) A brief explanation in speech or in a written work, including a synonym used with the intent of indicating the meaning of the word to which it is applied
6. (countable, law, US) An interpretation by a court of specific point within a statute or case law
   • 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

     This volume is thus not a narrowly defined treatment of the Code of Professional Responsibility but rather represents a "common law" gloss on it.

Synonyms

• (brief explanatory note or translation of a difficult or complex expression): explanation, note
• (glossary): glossary, lexicon
• (extensive commentary on some text): commentary, discourse, discussion

Derived terms

• beglossed

Related terms

• glossary

Translations

brief explanatory note or translation of a difficult or complex expression

• Bulgarian: бележка в полето f (beležka v poleto)
• Esperanto: gloso
• Finnish: selitys (fi)
• French: glose (fr) f
• Georgian: შენიშვნა (šenišvna), განმარტება (ganmarṭeba)
• German: Glosse (de) f, Glossem (de) f; Erläuterung (de) f (a hypernymic term), Randbemerkung (de) f (a hyponymic term)
• Irish: gluais f
• Italian: glossa (it) f, chiosa (it) f
• Norwegian: glose (no) m or f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: glosa (pt) f
• Russian: глосса (ru) f (glossa)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: гло̏са f

  Roman: glȍsa (sh) f

• Spanish: glosa (es)
• Swedish: glossa (sv) c, randanmärkning c
• Turkish: şerh (tr)

glossary — see glossary

extensive commentary on some text

• Finnish: selitys (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: Erläuterung (de) f

Verb

1. (transitive) To add a gloss to (a text).

Synonyms

• (add a gloss to): annotate, mark up

Derived terms

• gloss over

Translations

to add a gloss to (a text)

• Finnish: selittää (fi)
• Ido: glacar (io)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: glosar (pt)

Further reading

• “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

• slogs

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Portuguese

Noun

gloss m (uncountable)

1. lip gloss (cosmetic product)