Meanings
gloss1
plural glosses
- figurativelyuncountableusuallyA superficially or deceptively attractive appearance.
.
2 more examples
To me more dear, congenial to my heart, / One native charm than all the gloss of art.
1770, [Oliver] Goldsmith, The Deserted Village, a Poem, London: […] W[illiam] Griffin, […], →OCLCHodgson 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.
2013 September 7, Daniel Taylor, “Danny Welbeck leads England's rout of Moldova but hit by Ukraine ban”, in The Guardian
present singular third person glosses · participle present glossing · participle past glossed · past glossed
- transitiveTo make (something) attractive by deception
You have the art to gloss the foulest cause.
1722, Ambrose Philips, The Briton - intransitiveTo become shiny.
- idiomatictransitiveUsed in a phrasal verb: gloss over (“to cover up a mistake or crime, to treat something with less care than it deserves”).
gloss2
plural glosses
- countableA 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.
All this, without a gloss or comment, / He would unriddle in a moment.
1684, Samuel Butler, Hudibras1 more example
He was a prolific annotator - writing around fifty thousand glosses in as many as twenty manuscripts.
2021, Mary Wellesley, The Gilded Page: The Secret Lives of Medieval Manuscripts, page 9Synonyms: gloze, annotation
- countableobsoleteAn expression requiring such explanatory treatment.
- UScountablelawAn interpretation by a court of a specific point within a statute or case law.
Judicial Gloss on Test [section title]
2007, Bruce R. Hopkins., The law of tax-exempt organizations., page 761 more example
This volume is thus not a narrowly defined treatment of the Code of Professional Responsibility but rather represents a "common law" gloss on it.
1979, American Bar Foundation., Annotated code of professional responsibility, page ix - human sciencesA definition or explanation of a word sense.
Dictionary entries comprise two essential parts, the headword ('lemma') and the author's explanation ('gloss').
2011, Gabriele Stein, “The linking of lemma to gloss in Elyot's Dictionary (1538)”, in Olga Timoleeva, Tanja Saily, editor, Words in Dictionaries and History: Essays in Honour of R. W. McConchie1 more example
Therefore, for many of the Hebrew words in this book, I have provided more than one gloss (using a slash to separate alternatives, or double slashes when a single slash would be ambiguous), in order to give you a sense of the possible meanings of nuances […].
2019, Jonathan Kline, A Proverb a Day in Biblical Hebrew, page xi
gloss3
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA surface shine or luster.
nounA 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.
nounSynonym of glossary, a collection of such notes.
nounAn extensive commentary on some text.
More synonyms by meaning
nounan alphabetical list of technical terms in some specialized field of knowledge; usually published as an appendix to a text on that field
nounthe property of being smooth and shiny
nounan outward or token appearance or form that is deliberately misleading
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
gloss · noun, verb
- Proto-Indo-European*ǵʰel-“to flourish; be green or yellow”
- Proto-Germanic*glus-“to glow, shine”
- Dutchgloos“a glow, flare”
- Englishgloss
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.
More words from Dutch, Proto-Germanic, Proto-Indo-European
Full word history & related roots →gloss · noun
- Ancient Greekγλῶσσα“language”
- Late Latinglōssa“obsolete or foreign word requiring explanation”
- Old Frenchglose
- Middle Englishglosse
- Englishgloss
From Middle English glosse, alteration of glose, from Old French glose, from Late Latin glōssa (“obsolete or foreign word requiring explanation”), from Ancient Greek γλῶσσα (glôssa, “language”). Doublet of glossa and gloze.
More words from Middle English, Old French, Late Latin
Full word history & related roots →gloss · verb
- Old Frenchgloser
- Middle Englishglosen
- Englishgloss
An alteration of Middle English glosen after Etymology 2, from Old French gloser; compare Medieval Latin glossāre.
More words from Middle English, Old French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic بَرِيق
- بَرِيق (barīq)surface shine
Bulgarian блясък, лъскавина
- блясък (bljasăk)surface shine
- лъскавина (lăskavina)surface shine
- външен блясък (vănšen bljasăk)superficially or deceptively attractive appearance
- лъскам (lăskam)give a gloss or sheen to
- гланцирам (glanciram)give a gloss or sheen to
- бележка в полето (beležka v poleto)brief explanatory note or translation of a difficult or complex expression
Catalan glossa
- glossabrief explanatory note or translation of a difficult or complex expression
Czech lesk, pozlátko
- lesksurface shine
- pozlátkosuperficially or deceptively attractive appearance
- lesksuperficially or deceptively attractive appearance
Esperanto gloso
- glosobrief explanatory note or translation of a difficult or complex expression
Finnish kiilto, pintakiilto
- kiiltosurface shine
- pintakiiltosuperficially or deceptively attractive appearance
- kiillottaagive a gloss or sheen to
- selitysbrief explanatory note or translation of a difficult or complex expression
- selitysextensive commentary on some text
- selittääto add a gloss to (a text)
French brillant, glose
- brillantsurface shine
- glosebrief explanatory note or translation of a difficult or complex expression
German Glanz, Schimmer
- Glanzsurface shine
- Schimmersurface shine
- Glitzernsurface shine
- Fassadesuperficially or deceptively attractive appearance
- Schönfärbereisuperficially or deceptively attractive appearance
- Politursuperficially or deceptively attractive appearance
- Retuschesuperficially or deceptively attractive appearance
- Blendfassadesuperficially or deceptively attractive appearance
- Schaufassadesuperficially or deceptively attractive appearance
- polierengive a gloss or sheen to
- glanzpolierengive a gloss or sheen to
- schönfärbenmake (something) attractive by deception
- verbrämenmake (something) attractive by deception
- beschönigenmake (something) attractive by deception
- vertuschenmake (something) attractive by deception
- bemäntelnmake (something) attractive by deception
- überspielenmake (something) attractive by deception
- retuschierenmake (something) attractive by deception
- unter den Teppich kehrenmake (something) attractive by deception
- schönredenmake (something) attractive by deception
- Glossebrief explanatory note or translation of a difficult or complex expression
- Glossembrief explanatory note or translation of a difficult or complex expression
- Erläuterungbrief explanatory note or translation of a difficult or complex expression
- Randbemerkungbrief explanatory note or translation of a difficult or complex expression
- Randnotizbrief explanatory note or translation of a difficult or complex expression
- Fußnotebrief explanatory note or translation of a difficult or complex expression
- Erläuterungextensive commentary on some text
- kommentierento add a gloss to (a text)
- beschriftento add a gloss to (a text)
- annotierento add a gloss to (a text)
- mit einer Randnotiz versehento add a gloss to (a text)
- mit Anmerkungen versehento add a gloss to (a text)
Hebrew פירוש
- פירוש (perúsh)brief explanatory note or translation of a difficult or complex expression
Hungarian máz, máz
- mázsurface shine
- mázsuperficially or deceptively attractive appearance
- látszatsuperficially or deceptively attractive appearance
- kirakatsuperficially or deceptively attractive appearance
- külszínsuperficially or deceptively attractive appearance
Irish gluais
- gluaisbrief explanatory note or translation of a difficult or complex expression
Italian glossa, chiosa
- glossabrief explanatory note or translation of a difficult or complex expression
- chiosabrief explanatory note or translation of a difficult or complex expression
Japanese グロス, 注解
- グロス (gurosu)brief explanatory note or translation of a difficult or complex expression
- 注解 (chūkai)brief explanatory note or translation of a difficult or complex expression
Norwegian glose
- glosebrief explanatory note or translation of a difficult or complex expression
Polish glosa, glosa
- glosabrief explanatory note or translation of a difficult or complex expression
- glosaextensive commentary on some text
Portuguese lustre, lustro
- lustresurface shine
- lustrosurface shine
- brilhosurface shine
- brilharbecome shiny
- glosabrief explanatory note or translation of a difficult or complex expression
- glosarto add a gloss to (a text)
Russian блеск, гля́нец
- блеск (blesk)surface shine
- гля́нец (gljánec)surface shine
- блеск (blesk)superficially or deceptively attractive appearance
- лоск (losk)superficially or deceptively attractive appearance
- наводи́ть гля́нец (navodítʹ gljánec)give a gloss or sheen to
- наводи́ть лоск (navodítʹ losk)make (something) attractive by deception
- лосни́ться (losnítʹsja)become shiny
- гло́сса (glóssa)brief explanatory note or translation of a difficult or complex expression
Scottish Gaelic lìomh, lìomh
- lìomhsurface shine
- lìomhgive a gloss or sheen to
Spanish brillo, lustre
- brillosurface shine
- lustresurface shine
- glosabrief explanatory note or translation of a difficult or complex expression
- glosarto add a gloss to (a text)
Swedish glossa, randanmärkning
- glossabrief explanatory note or translation of a difficult or complex expression
- randanmärkningbrief explanatory note or translation of a difficult or complex expression
Turkish parlaklık, gösteriş
- parlaklıksurface shine
- gösterişsuperficially or deceptively attractive appearance
- şerhbrief explanatory note or translation of a difficult or complex expression
Ukrainian глоса
- глоса (hlosa)brief explanatory note or translation of a difficult or complex expression
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with gloss
Cite this entry
gloss. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gloss
“gloss.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gloss. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “gloss,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gloss.
Source: gloss on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.