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Gloss   /glɔs/   Listen
noun
Gloss  n.  
1.
Brightness or luster of a body proceeding from a smooth surface; polish; as, the gloss of silk; cloth is calendered to give it a gloss. "It is no part... to set on the face of this cause any fairer gloss than the naked truth doth afford."
2.
A specious appearance; superficial quality or show. "To me more dear, congenial to my heart, One native charm than all the gloss of art."


Gloss  n.  
1.
A foreign, archaic, technical, or other uncommon word requiring explanation. (Obs.)
2.
An interpretation, consisting of one or more words, interlinear or marginal; an explanatory note or comment; a running commentary. "All this, without a gloss or comment, He would unriddle in a moment." "Explaining the text in short glosses."
3.
A false or specious explanation.


verb
Gloss  v. t.  (past & past part. glossed; pres. part. glossing)  To give a superficial luster or gloss to; to make smooth and shining; as, to gloss cloth. "The glossed and gleamy wave."


Gloss  v. t.  
1.
To render clear and evident by comments; to illustrate; to explain; to annotate.
2.
To give a specious appearance to; to render specious and plausible; to palliate by specious explanation. "You have the art to gloss the foulest cause."


Gloss  v. i.  
1.
To make comments; to comment; to explain.
2.
To make sly remarks, or insinuations.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Gloss" Quotes from Famous Books



... mainly true. Mr. James Barry was an Irishman, whose finer religious feelings revolted against paying money to a heathen. I could not find it in my heart to say anything to See Yup about the buttons; indeed, I spoke in complimentary terms about the gloss of my shirts, and I think I meekly begged him to come again for my washing. When I went home I expostulated with Mr. Barry, but succeeded only in extracting from him the conviction that I was one of "thim black Republican fellys that worshiped naygurs." ...
— Stories in Light and Shadow • Bret Harte
... want to gloss things over for you. It's the worst thing in the world for a young fellow just starting out to have a rosy view of the business world, which is composed of steady work and hard knocks, about equally mixed. You've ...
— Richard Dare's Venture • Edward Stratemeyer
... musing a moment to-morrow on the Vision; on the very top of the Vision, Ill meet you, child, just as the sun gets over our heads. See that its the fine grain; youll know it by the gloss and the price. ...
— The Pioneers • James Fenimore Cooper
... sou'wester. There was blood upon the face of him and the grime of an unclean ship upon his bare hands. It was Wilbur, and yet not Wilbur. In two minutes he had been, in a way, born again. The only traces of his former self were the patent-leather boots, still persistent in their gloss and shine, that showed grim incongruity below the vast ...
— Moran of the Lady Letty • Frank Norris
... The gloss to this is, 'Herse is the solemne obsequie in funeralles.' Cp. also Ben Jonson's 'Epitaph on the ...
— Marmion • Sir Walter Scott


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