Word of the Day

: December 29, 2023

glower

verb GLOUR

What It Means

To glower is to look or stare with sullen annoyance or anger.

// Kelly glowered at me after I sided with Brenda in their dispute about the chores.

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glower in Context

"As their laughter echoed down the hallway, stern faces glowered from old black-and-white portraits in gilded frames." — Hailey Branson-Potts, The Los Angeles Times, 26 May 2023

Did You Know?

We send this word, glower, out to the glaring grumps, the scowling scoundrels, and the pouting pessimists of the world. Its gloomy roots grow in 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. We can offer no explanation for this semantic development, but we will submit that in its evolved form it reminds us of an older and unrelated English word: lower (it rhymes with flower) means "to frown or look sullen."