Meanings
glower1
present singular third person glowers · participle present glowering · participle past glowered · past glowered
- intransitiveTo look or stare with anger.First known use late 15th c.
Now look at this board that I just flung into the dark aisle out o' the way, while Monkbarns was glowering ower a' the silver yonder.
1816, [Walter Scott], chapter IX, in The Antiquary. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, page 2365 more examples
[...] Last Morning I was unco airly out, / Upon a Dyke I lean'd and glowr'd about; / I ſaw my Meg come linkan o'er the Lee, / I ſaw my Meg, but Maggie ſaw na me: [...]
[1720?], [Allan Ramsay], Patie and Roger: A Pastoral Inscribed to Josiah Burchet Esq; Secretary of the Admiralty, [Edinburgh?]: [Thomas Ruddiman for the author?], →OCLC, page 9Here the Neapolitan appeared at the door, glouring at us both. Velvet-Hood was back in her place in an instant. Said he, in his snarling way, his black eyes shooting out sparkles. "What is this hole and corner work? These confidences when I am gone—speak?"
1858 May 1, [Percy Hetherington Fitzgerald], “By Night Express”, in Charles Dickens, editor, Household Words. A Weekly Journal, volume XVII, number 423, London: Published at the office, 16, Wellington Street North, Strand; printed by Bradbury & Evans, Whitefriars, London, →OCLC, page 479At sight of this castle or cottage in the air, Rachel lighted up. The little whim had something tranquilizing and balmy. It was escape—flight from Gylingden—flight from Brandon—flight from Redman's Farm: they and all their hated associations would be far behind, and that awful page in her story, not torn out, indeed, but gummed down as it were, and no longer glaring and glowering in her eyes every moment of her waking life.
1864, J[oseph] Sheridan Le Fanu, “Dorcas Brandon Pays Rachel a Visit”, in Wylder’s Hand. […], New York, N.Y.: Carleton, […], published 1865, →OCLC, pages 140–141Andersonville, to-day, presents a striking contrast to the Andersonville of the "Confederacy." [...] No bayonet gleams from the sentry-boxes on the stockade or the dark red earthworks; no frowning muzzle of field artillery glowers from the embrasures of the battery, overlooking town and prison; [...]
1868, S. H. M. Byers, “Appendix. Andersonville as It Was and Is. [From the Boston Transcript.]”, in What I Saw in Dixie; or Sixteen Months in Rebel Prisons, Dansville, N.Y.: Robbins & Poore, printers, Express Printing House, →OCLC, page 92This soothed the irascible fellow somewhat. Still glowering, he spraddled out of the cabin with the boys after him, and presently indicated one of the small temporary cabins with a jerk of his thumb.
1917, T[homas] S[igismund] Stribling, “The Dry Dock”, in The Cruise of the Dry Dock, Chicago, Ill.: The Reilly & Britton Co., →OCLC, pages 20–21Synonyms: lour
plural glowers · alternative glour · alternative glowr
- An angry glare or stare.First known use late 15th c.
She sure has an awful glower on her face.
3 more examples
[H]e [Rab, a dog] growled and gave now and then a sharp impatient yelp; he would have liked to have done something to that man. But James had him firm, and gave him a glower from time to time, and an intimation of a possible kick;—all the better for James, it kept his eye and his mind off Ailie.
1862, John Brown, “Rab and His Friends”, in Spare Hours, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 33"I thought we could go a bit farther to the back pasture. You can get a better view." / "Of the extensive Bannister estate?" she said with a wry tone. / "Of the ranch," he said, a glower showing her that he didn't fully appreciate her comment.
2015, Carolyne Aarsen, chapter 6, in The Cowboy’s Homecoming (Love Inspired Books), New York, N.Y.: Harlequin, →ISBN, page 89"Enough," Nathaniel repeated as he kept a tight hold on their suspenders. "What's been said was said. What's been done has been done. It's over. Let is go." / The glowers the boys gave him warned Nathaniel that he was wasting his breath.
2016, Jo Ann Brown, chapter 1, in His Amish Sweetheart (Love Inspired Books; Amish Hearts; 3), New York, N.Y.: Harlequin, →ISBN
glower2
plural glowers
- That which glows or emits light.
Table 45 presents computed relative and absolute values for the spectral radiant emittance of a Nernst glower at T = 1965 and 2000°K (the corresponding emissivities are 0.427 and 0.438).
1968, Mikaél’ A[bramovič] Bramson, “Special Infrared Sources”, in Richard B. Rodman, transl., edited by William L. Wolfe, Infrared Radiation: A Handbook for Applications: With a Collection of Reference Tables (Optical Physics and Engineering), New York, N.Y.: Plenum Press, →OCLC; republished New York, N.Y.: Springer-Verlag, 2013, →DOI, →ISBN, § 3 (Infrared Incandescent Lamps), page 274
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo look or stare with anger.
More synonyms by meaning
verblook angry or sullen, wrinkle one's forehead, as if to signal disapproval
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
glower · verb, noun
- Middle Englishglōren
- Englishglower
From an alteration (possibly Scots) of glore, from Middle English glōren, glouren (“to gleam; to glare, glower”); or from glow (“to stare”) (obsolete), and ultimately from a Scandinavian (North Germanic) language. Cognate with Low German gloren (“to flicker; to glimmer”), Dutch gloren, Icelandic glóra. By surface analysis, glow + -er (fossilized frequentative suffix). See more at glare.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →glower · noun
- Middle Englishglouere
- Englishglower
From Middle English glouere, equivalent to glow + -er.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian гледам сърдито, сърдит поглед
- гледам сърдито (gledam sărdito)to look or stare with anger
- сърдит поглед (sărdit pogled)angry glare or stare
Danish glo olmt, stirre vredt
- glo olmtto look or stare with anger
- stirre vredtto look or stare with anger
- skuleto look or stare with anger
- skyde lynto look or stare with anger
- olmt blikangry glare or stare
Dutch dreigend kijken, norse blik
- dreigend kijkento look or stare with anger
- norse blikangry glare or stare
Finnish mulkoilla, tuijottaa vihaisesti
- mulkoillato look or stare with anger
- tuijottaa vihaisestito look or stare with anger
- vihainen tuijotusangry glare or stare
- mulkoiluangry glare or stare
French lancer un regard noir, regard noir
- lancer un regard noirto look or stare with anger
- regard noirangry glare or stare
German ärgerlich ansehen, finster ansehen
- ärgerlich ansehento look or stare with anger
- finster ansehento look or stare with anger
Greek αγριοκοιτάζω
- αγριοκοιτάζω (agriokoitázo)to look or stare with anger
Italian guardare in cagnesco, sguardo torvo
- guardare in cagnescoto look or stare with anger
- sguardo torvoangry glare or stare
Māori whakakarukaru, hīnana
- whakakarukaruto look or stare with anger
- hīnanato look or stare with anger
Norwegian olmt blikk
- olmt blikkangry glare or stare
Norwegian Bokmål stirre, glo
- stirreto look or stare with anger
- gloto look or stare with anger
Russian сердито смотреть
- сердито смотреть (serdito smotretʹ)to look or stare with anger
Spanish mirar con ceño, ceño fruncido
- mirar con ceñoto look or stare with anger
- ceño fruncidoangry glare or stare
- mirada amenazadoraangry glare or stare
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with glower
Anagrams
Cite this entry
glower. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/glower
“glower.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/glower. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “glower,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/glower.
Source: glower on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.