Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Gloss

Gloss (glŏs), n. [Cf. Icel. glossi a blaze, glys finery, MHG. glosen to glow, G. glosten to glimmer; perh. akin to E. glass.] 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. Hooker.

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. Goldsmith.

Gloss, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Glossed; p. pr. & vb. n. Glossing.] To give a superficial luster or gloss to; to make smooth and shining; as, to gloss cloth.

The glossed and gleamy wave. J. R. Drake.

Gloss, n. [OE. glose, F. glose, L. glossa a difficult word needing explanation, fr. Gr. γλῶσσα tongue, language, word needing explanation. Cf. Gloze, Glossary, Glottis.]

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. Hudibras.

Explaining the text in short glosses. T. Baker.

3. A false or specious explanation. Dryden.

Gloss (glŏs), 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. Philips.

Gloss (glŏs), v. i. 1. To make comments; to comment; to explain. Dryden.

2. To make sly remarks, or insinuations. Prior.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.