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Glower Middle Part History Late Word Stare Glowering

'Glower' means to stare angrily or with sullen annoyance, with its origins partly traced to a Scottish term for intently looking.

Glower means to look or stare with sullen annoyance or anger. The word's origin is partly traced to Scottish 'glowren', which initially meant 'to look intently' but evolved to imply anger.

Word glower
Date March 17, 2010
Type verb
Syllables GLOW-er (the OW is as in "cow")
Etymology Do words of uncertain origin make you scowl? If so, "glower" may put a frown on your face, because only part of its history can be validated. The well-established part of its story leads us to Scotland, where "glower" (or "glowren," to use the older Scottish form of the word) has been used since the late Middle Ages. Originally, the word meant simply "to look intently" or "to stare in amazement," but by the late 1700s, glowering stares were being associated with anger instead of astonishment. Beyond that, however, the history of the word is murky. The most we can say is that "glower" is a distant relative of Middle Low German "glŪren," which means "to be overcast," and of Middle Dutch "gloeren," meaning "to leer."
Examples I could sense Katherine glowering at me after I took her usual parking spot.
Definition : to look or stare with sullen annoyance or anger

Tags: wordoftheday::verb

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