Dictionary Definition
gloss
Noun
1 an explanation or definition of an obscure word
in a text [syn: rubric]
2 an alphabetical list of technical terms in some
specialized field of knowledge; usually published as an appendix to
a text on that field [syn: glossary]
4 an outward or token appearance or form that is
deliberately misleading; "he hoped his claims would have a
semblance of authenticity"; "he tried to give his falsehood the
gloss of moral sanction"; "the situation soon took on a different
color" [syn: semblance, color, colour]
Verb
1 give a shine or gloss to, usually by
rubbing
2 provide interlinear explanations for words or
phrases; "He annotated on what his teacher had written" [syn:
comment, annotate]
3 provide an interlinear translation of a word or
phrase
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Pronunciation
- (UK): /glɒs/, /glQs/
- (US): , /glɑs/, /glAs/
- Rhymes: -ɒs
Etymology 1
Noun
- A surface shine or luster/lustre
- (figurative) A superficially or deceptively attractive appearance
Synonyms
Translations
surface shine
- Finnish: kiilto
superficially or deceptively attractive
appearance
- Finnish: pintakiilto
Synonyms
Translations
give a gloss or sheen to
- Finnish: kiillottaa
make (something) attractive by deception
become shiny
Etymology 2
Noun
- A brief explanatory note or translation of a difficult or complex expression, usually inserted in the margin or between lines of a text.
- A glossary; a collection of such notes.
- An extensive commentary on some text.
- A deliberately misleading explanation.
Synonyms
- (brief explanatory note or translation of a difficult or complex expression): explanation, note
- (glossary): glossary, lexicon
- (extensive commentary on some text): commentary, discourse, discussion
- (deliberately misleading explanation): deception, lie
Translations
brief explanatory note or translation of a
difficult or complex expression
glossary
- Finnish: sanasto, termien selitykset
- Portuguese: glossário
extensive commentary on some text
deliberately misleading explanation
Verb
- To add a gloss to (a text).
- To give a deliberately false interpretation of.
Synonyms
- (add a gloss to):
- (give a deliberately false interpretation of): misrepresent
Translations
add a gloss to (a text)
- Finnish: selittää
give a deliberately false interpretation of
Extensive Definition
A gloss (from Koine Greek
γλώσσα glossa, meaning 'tongue'—the organ—as well as 'language') is
a note made in the margins or between the lines of a book, in which the meaning of the
text in its original language is explained,
sometimes in another language. As such, glosses can vary in
thoroughness and complexity, from simple marginal notations of
words one reader found difficult or obscure, to entire interlinear
translations of the
original text and cross references to similar passages.
A collection of glosses is a glossary (though glossary also
means simply a collection of specialized terms with their
meanings). A collection of medieval legal glosses, made by so
called glossators,
commenting legal texts, is called an apparatus. The compilation of
glosses into glossaries was the beginning of lexicography, and the
glossaries so compiled were in fact the first dictionaries.
In theology
Glosses were a primary format used in medieval Biblical theology, and were studied and memorized almost upon their own merit, without regards to the author. Many times a Biblical passage was heavily associated with a particular gloss, whose truth was taken for granted by many theologians.In law
see also Glossator A phenomenon similar to that which occurred in theology also occurred in medieval law: the glosses on Roman law and Canon law created for many subjects standard starting points of reference, a socalled sedes materiae (literally: seat of the matter). In common law countries, the term "judicial gloss" refers to what is considered an authoritative or "official" interpretation of a statute or regulation by a judge. Judicial glosses are often very important in avoiding contradictions between statutes, and determining the constitutionality of various provisions of law.In philology
Glosses are of some importance in philology, especially if one language—usually, the language of the author of the gloss—has left few texts of its own. The Reichenau glosses, for example, gloss the Latin Vulgate Bible in an early form of one of the Romance languages, and as such give insight into late Vulgar Latin at a time when that language was not often written down. A series of glosses in the Old English language to Latin Bibles give us a running translation of Biblical texts in that language; see Old English Bible translations. Glosses of Christian religious texts are also important for our knowledge of Old Irish. Glosses frequently shed valuable light on the vocabulary of otherwise little attested languages; they are less reliable for syntax, because many times the glosses follow the word order of the original text, and translate its idioms literally.In linguistics
In linguistics, a simple gloss in running text is usually indicated in single quotation marks, following the transcription of a foreign word. For example:- A Cossack longboat is called a chaika ‘seagull’.
- The moose gains its name from the Algonquian mus or mooz (‘twig eater’).
A longer or more complex transcription requires
an interlinear gloss. This is often placed between a text and its
translation when it is important to understand the structure of the
language being glossed.
A semi-standardized set of parsing conventions
and grammatical abbreviations is explained in the Leipzig
Glossing Rules.
Glossing signed languages
Sign languages are typically transcribed word-for-word by means of an English gloss written in all capitals. Prosody is often glossed as superscript English words, with its scope indicated by brackets.Fingerspelling
is transcribed directly; this is commonly indicated with either a
pound sign (#WIKI) or by hyphenation (W-I-K-I).
In sociology
Talcott Parsons used the word "gloss" to describe how mind constructs reality. We are taught how to "put the world together" by others who subscribe to a consensus reality — which many disciplines, Zen for example, strive to overcome. Studies have shown that our brains "filter" the data coming from our senses. This "filtering" is largely unconsciously created and determined by biology, cultural constructs including language, personal experience, belief systems, etcetera. Different cultures create different glosses.References
gloss in Czech: Glosa
gloss in German: Glosse
gloss in Esperanto: Gloso (leksikologio)
gloss in French: Glose
gloss in Galician: Glosa
gloss in Dutch: Glos
gloss in Polish: Glosa
gloss in Portuguese: Glosa
gloss in Russian: Глосса
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
abuse of terms, acting, affectation, afterglow, air glow, alibi, allowance, amplification, analysis, annotate, annotation, apology, apparatus criticus,
appearance, apply
paint, attitudinizing, bedaub, bedizen, begild, belie, besmear, bilingual text,
biographical dictionary, blind, bluff, bluffing, brightness, brush on paint,
buff, burnish, butter, calcimine, camouflage, candescence, catachresis, cheating, chemical dictionary,
clavis, cloak, coat, color, coloring, comment, comment upon, commentary, commentate, commentation, complexion, conceal, contort, contorting, cover, cover story, cover up,
cover-up, creamy,
crib, critical review,
criticism, criticize, critique, cursoriness, dab, daub, deception, decipherment, decoding, decontamination,
deep-dye, define,
definition, delicate, delusion, desk dictionary,
device, dialect
dictionary, dictionary, dictionary of
quotations, dip, disguise, dissemblance, dissembling, dissimulation, distemper, distort, distortion, double-dye, dress
up, dye, edit, editorial, eggshell, eisegesis, electronics
dictionary, elucidate,
elucidation,
embellish, emblazon, embroider, enamel, engild, epidermis, error, etymological dictionary,
excuse, exegesis, explain, explanation, explicate, explication, extenuating
circumstances, extenuation, extenuative, exteriority, facade, face, faithful translation,
fakery, faking, false air, false
appearance, false front, false show, falsify, falsity, fast-dye, feigning, feint, finish, flat, flush, footnote, foreign-language
dictionary, four-flushing, fraud, free translation, fresco, front, fudge, furbish, garble, garbling, gazetteer, general dictionary,
geological dictionary, get one wrong, get wrong, gild, gilding, gilt, glance, glaze, gleam, glint, gloss, gloss over, glossary, glossiness, glow, gradus, grain, guise, handle, hide, hue, humbug, humbuggery, illuminate, imbue, imposture, incandescence, ingrain, interlinear, interlinear
translation, interpret, interpretation, iridescent, japan, key, lacquer, lame excuse, lay on,
lay on color, leader,
leading article, lexicon, light, locus standi, loose
translation, luster, make
an edition, malentendu, malobservation, mask, masquerade, mellow, mere scratch, meretriciousness,
metaphrase, misapplication, misapply, misapprehend, misapprehension,
miscitation,
miscite, miscolor, misconceive, misconception, misconstruction,
misconstrue,
misdeem, misexplain, misexplanation, misexplicate, misexplication, misexposition, misexpound, misintelligence,
misinterpret,
misinterpretation,
misjudge, misjudgment, misquotation, misquote, misread, misreading, misrender, misrendering, misreport, misrepresent, misstate, mistake, mistranslate, mistranslation, misunderstand, misunderstanding,
misuse of words, mitigation, mother-of-pearl,
nacreous, no depth, no
water, nomenclator,
notation, note, note of explanation, notice, onomasticon, opalescent, ostensible
motive, ostentation,
outward show, overstate, paint, pale, palliation, palliative, paraphrase, parget, pastel, patina, patinaed, pearly, perversion, pervert, phrase book, pigment, pinprick, playacting, polish, polyglot dictionary,
pony, poor excuse, pose, posing, posture, pretense, pretension, pretext, prime, protestation, public
motive, put-off, qualification, quiet, refuge, remark, remark upon, report, representation, restatement, review, rewording, rhyming dictionary,
rind, rub, running commentary, sad, scholium, science dictionary,
scour, scratch, screen, seeming, semblance, semigloss, shade, shadow, shallowness, sham, sheen, shellac, shine, shininess, shining light,
shoaliness, show, silkiness, simple, simulacrum, simulation, skin, skylight, slang dictionary,
slant, slap on, slather, sleek, sleekness, slick, slick down, slickness, slightness, slop on paint,
smear, smear on, smoke
screen, smooth over, sober, soft, soft-colored, soft-hued,
softened, softening, somber, specialized dictionary,
speciousness,
spread on, spread with, squeeze, squeezing, stain, stalking-horse, stipple, strain, strain the sense,
stratagem, subdued, subterfuge, subtle, sunset glow, superficiality, superficies, surface, sweet, synonym dictionary,
synonymy, tar, tender, thesaurus, tinct, tincture, tinge, tint, titivate, tone, torture, torturing, transcription, translate, translation, transliteration,
treasury of words, trick,
trick out, triviality, trot, twist, twist the words, twisting, unabridged
dictionary, undercoat,
understate, varnish, veil, veneer, vocabulary, wash, wax, whitewash, whitewashing, window
dressing, word of explanation, wordbook, wrench, wrenching,
write-up