Word of the Day

: October 6, 2018

gloaming

noun GLOH-ming

What It Means

: twilight, dusk

gloaming in Context

"It was in the gloaming at Duke University in late fall of 1966. There was a wet chill in the air, most of the trees were leafless, and a low cloud cover added to the gloom. " — Bob Williams, The Chronicle (Duke University), 20 Aug. 2018

"Afterward, we meandered up Lincoln Way in the gloaming, and I was delighted at the music sponsored by the Auburn Arts Commission—at Central Square and the Clock Tower. But before we reached the Clock Tower, I saw that the lights were on in Winston Smith. Auburn's bookstore open at an odd hour? Yes, yes, of course that works for me." — Susan Rushton, The Auburn (California) Journal, 3 August 2018

Did You Know?

If gloaming makes you think of tartans and bagpipes, you've got a good ear and a good eye; we picked up gloaming from the Scottish dialects of English back in the Middle Ages. The roots of the word trace to the Old English word for "twilight," glōm, which is akin to glōwan, an Old English verb meaning "to glow." In the early 1800s, English speakers looked to Scotland again and borrowed the now-archaic verb gloam, meaning "to become dusk" or "to grow dark."