Gloss Definition

glôs, glŏs
glossed, glosses, glossing
noun
glosses
The brightness or luster of a smooth, polished surface; sheen.
Webster's New World
A kind of paint that dries to a shiny finish.
American Heritage
Webster's New World
A deceptively smooth or pleasant outward appearance, as in manners or speech.
Webster's New World
A surface shininess or luster.
American Heritage
Antonyms:
verb
glossed, glosses, glossing
To give a polished, shiny surface to; make lustrous.
Webster's New World
To become shiny.
Webster's New World
To apply a gloss to.
Glossed her lips.
American Heritage
To smooth over or cover up (an error, inadequacy, fault, etc.); make appear right by specious argument or by minimizing.
Webster's New World
To annotate a text.
Webster's New World
abbreviation
Glossary.
Webster's New World
prefix

(chiefly anatomy) Tongue.

Wiktionary

(uncommon) Speech, language.

Wiktionary

Other Word Forms of Gloss

Noun

Singular:
gloss
Plural:
glosses

Origin of Gloss

  • From Late Latin glossa (“an obsolete or foreign difficult word requiring explanation, later applied to explanation itself”), from Ancient Greek γλῶσσα (glōssa, “tongue, language, an obsolete or foreign word requiring explanation”).

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English glose from Old French from Medieval Latin glōsa from Latin glōssa foreign word requiring explanation from Greek tongue, language

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • Perhaps of Scandinavian origin Icelandic glossi a spark ghel-2 in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • Perhaps of Scandinavian origin Icelandic glossi a spark ghel-2 in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

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

    From Wiktionary

  • From the Ancient Greek γλῶσσα (glōssa, “tongue"); compare -glossia, glott-.

    From Wiktionary

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