Word Wednesday: Glowering

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Origin

The verb glower, “to look or stare with sullen dislike” comes from Middle English gloren [or] glouren “to shine, gleam, glow, stare, stare at fixedly.” The Middle English forms are mostly from the north (Yorkshire) and Scotland. [T]he sense “to stare at fixedly” is Scottish. The source of gloren and glouren is obscure but, possibly, Scandinavian, e.g., Icelandic [as] glóra “to glow (like a cat’s eyes)” [or] Swedish and Norwegian dialect glora “to glow, stare.” The source of gloren [and] glouren may also be from Middle Low German glūren “to be overcast” or Dutch glueren “to leer, peep.” Glower entered English in the 15th century.

This is very similar to our “glaring at someone” which has its roots in Middle English, Middle Dutch and Middle Low German.

I’ve been doing a lot of glowering and glaring, lately. The whole world has gone insane-stupid. ~Vic

8 thoughts on “Word Wednesday: Glowering

    backuphill said:
    June 3, 2020 at 5:28 PM

    Glowering disdain. Perfectly descriptive for this day and age! LOL

    Liked by 1 person

    bereavedandbeingasingleparent said:
    June 4, 2020 at 5:28 AM

    I find it amusing that someone from Yorkshire has just learnt a new word…..

    Like

    badfinger20 (Max) said:
    June 9, 2020 at 2:31 PM

    Max will glower at Vic when she makes a smart ass comment about Bob Dylan! Yea I like that word!

    Like

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