This week's theme
Words that have meanings in multiple parts of speech

This week's words
paragon
countenance
gloze
tarry
bluff

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(glohz)

MEANING:

verb tr.:
    To minimize or to explain away.
verb intr.:
    1. To use flattery.
    2. To make an explanation.
    3. To shine brightly.
noun:
    1. A comment.
    2. Flattery.
    3. A pretense.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Old French gloser (to explain), from Latin glossa (explanation of a difficult word), from Greek glossa (word needing explanation, language). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ghel- (to shine), which is also the source of words such as yellow, gold, glimmer, glimpse, glass, arsenic, melancholy, and cholera. Earliest documented use: around 1290.

USAGE:

"When Anthony Blunt was exposed 20 years ago, there were some who tried to gloze his conduct."
Geoffrey Wheatcroft; Her Russia Right or Wrong; The Spectator (London, UK); Sep 18, 1999.

"From the pyramid's apex 42.3 billion candlepower's worth of white light shines, glozes, fulgurates, burns."
Josh Axelrad; Repeat Until Rich: A Professional Card Counter's Chronicle of the of the Blackjack Wars; Penguin; 2010.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: