Word Wednesday: Glowering
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
June 3, 2020 at 5:28 PM
Glowering disdain. Perfectly descriptive for this day and age! LOL
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June 3, 2020 at 5:29 PM
Exactly.
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June 4, 2020 at 5:28 AM
I find it amusing that someone from Yorkshire has just learnt a new word…..
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June 4, 2020 at 1:29 PM
I was thinking of you when I posted it.
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June 4, 2020 at 9:16 AM
Being a redhead Scot, I’ve got this one down cold. 😀
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June 4, 2020 at 1:45 PM
Right on! I’m the dark-haired Scot…though my hair had a red tint when I was younger.
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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!
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June 9, 2020 at 2:34 PM
Yeah, yeah… Vic will then stick her tongue out at Max. Na, na, na, na, na….
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June 9, 2020 at 2:52 PM
lol
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June 9, 2020 at 4:07 PM
😀
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