glow
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glow¹
- /ɡləʊ/ UK
- /ɡloʊ/ US
Rhymes with -əʊ
Where it comes from
The verb is derived from Middle English glouen, glowen (“to give off heat and light without flame; of a thing: to be heated until red hot; to be brightly coloured; to shine brightly; (figurative) to be filled with emotion; of the face, etc.: to turn red, flush; etc.”), and then either:
* from Old English glōwan (“to glow”) (a strong verb), from Proto-West Germanic *glōan (“to glow”); or
* because the Middle English and modern English words are weak verbs, possibly from Old Norse *glówa, thought to be a variant of glóa (“to glow”), also a weak verb;
both from Proto-Germanic *glōaną (“to glow”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰleh₁- (“to shine, glow; to be shining, glowing”). Possibly a doublet of glass.
The noun is derived from the verb.
cognates
* Dutch gloeien
* Finnish loistaa
* German glühen
* Norwegian glo
* Old Norse glóa (Danish glo, Icelandic glóa, Swedish glo)
* Saterland Frisian gloie, glöie, gluuje
* West Frisian gloeie
verb glows · glowing · glowed · glew
- To emit heat and light without a flame. Iron glows red hot when heated to near its melting point.
- Of a fire: to emit heat and light. The fire was still glowing after ten hours.
- To emit light brightly and steadily as if heated to a high temperature; to shine. [N]ovv glovv'd the Firmament / VVith living Saphirs: […]
- To be very hot; also, to be on fire; to burn. [T]he torrid Zone / Glovvs vvith the paſſing and repaſſing Sun.
- Of a colour: to be bright; also, of a thing: to have a bright colour. The new baby’s room glows with bright, loving colours.
- Of a person: to display intense emotion. a healthy glow
- Of a person's body or a part of it: to feel hot and often to flush (“become suffused with a reddish colour”) as well, due to an emotional response, exertion, etc. After their workout, the gymnasts’ faces were glowing.
- To be involved in an (chiefly online) undercover sting operation, especially by American federal agencies. If this post glows any brighter I'm going to need sunglasses. 😄🕶👌
- To create a threatening online post that may involve violence, and look suspicious enough to attract a police investigation.
- To emit (flame). Shall Pagan Pages glovv celeſtial Flame, / And Chriſtian, languiſh?
- To expose (someone) to the authorities.
- To make (something) hot; to heat. On each ſide her, / Stood pretty Dimpled Boyes, like ſmiling Cupids, / VVith diuers coulour'd Fannes vvhoſe vvinde did ſeeme / To gloue the delicate cheekes vvhich they did coole, / And vvhat they vndid did.
noun glows
- A state of heat and light being emitted by a hot object. The struggling spark of good within, / Just smother'd in the strife of sin, / They quicken to a timely glow, / The pure flame spreading high and low.
- A state of heat being emitted by a person or an animal's body. He had so heated himself with rapid walking in the fog and frost, this nephew of Scrooge's, that he was all in a glow; his face was ruddy and handsome; his eyes sparkled, and his breath smoked again.
- A state of light being emitted by something (for example, a bioluminescent animal or fungus, or a mineral) which is not hot; luminescence. So if you find yourself regularly up late at night, basking in the TV's glow, you might be doing more than just depriving yourself of sleep.
- A state of brightness or warmth of colour; specifically, a reddish colour on a person's face indicating health or youth; a flush. He had a bright red glow on his face.
- A condition of being passionate or having warm feelings; an ardour. There's not a joy the world can give like that it takes away, / When the glow of early thought declines in feeling's dull decay; […]
glow²
- /ɡləʊ/ UK
- /ɡloʊ/ US
Rhymes with -əʊ
Where it comes from
From Late Middle English glouen (“to gaze, stare”); further etymology uncertain, possibly either:
* from glouen, glowen (“to give off heat and light without flame; of a thing: to be heated until red hot; to be brightly coloured; to shine brightly; (figurative) to be filled with emotion; of the face, etc.: to turn red, flush; etc.”); or
* from Old Norse glóa (“to shine”) (whence Norwegian Nynorsk glo (“to stare”) and Swedish glo (“to stare”)).
See further at etymology 1.
verb glows · glowing · glowed
- To look intently; to stare. Borgnoyer. To vvant an eye; to looke, or ſee but vvith one eye; […] alſo, to glovv, glote, or loure.
