Word of the Day

: January 3, 2010

gloze

verb GLOHZ

What It Means

1 : to mask the true nature of : give a deceptively attractive appearance to -- often used with "over"

2 : to deal with (a subject or problem) too lightly or not at all -- often used with "over"

gloze in Context

"His modesty and shyness were at any rate proverbial, and it does seem that he went out of his way to conceal or gloze over certain aspects of his career, his military exploits in particular." (Eleanor Perenyi, Green Thoughts)

Did You Know?

"Gloze" and its synonym "gloss" have long, intertwined histories. "Gloze," which comes from Middle English "glose," meaning "flattery," "plausible pretext," or "explanation of a difficult word," is the older of the two; it has been used as both a verb and noun since the 14th century. The noun "gloss," referring to an explanation or interpretation, first appeared in the mid-16th century as an alteration of "gloze," and the verb "gloss" followed about a century later." During the 19th century, "gloze" briefly took on the additional meaning "to brighten" (adapting the meaning of another, unrelated "gloss" referring to luster or brightness), but by the end of that century all uses of "gloze" had faded into relative obscurity. "Gloss," on the other hand, flourished and continues to be the more common term by far today.